Election Perseverance

 Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director, Priests for Life

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As the year 2006 begins, it is time to fire up the engines for another election, and focus on electing leaders who will provide the maximum possible protection to innocent human life. In the last several major elections, voters have increased pro-life majorities both on the state and federal levels of government. More voters each year say that the abortion holocaust influenced their vote, and even many pro-abortion candidates who are not yet ready to become pro-life are realizing that being pro-abortion does not win elections.

Momentum is on our side, and there is nothing the other side can do to take the stigma out of abortion. Therefore, there is no reason for delay on our part. The time to activate is now, and the reason is the same as it always was: those who are more willing to have babies killed must not be given the power to do so.

Notice that I phrase that in the negative. Elections are often not about getting a satisfactory person in office as much as they are about keeping a worse person out of office. Elections are exercises of power, and deal in the categories of “bad, worse, good, better” rather than “bad, perfect”. If we go into elections hoping to find perfect candidates, we will constantly be disappointed. But if we go into elections determined to improve things as much as possible, recognizing the limits of what that means, but also recognizing its significance, we will be energized.

Some people may wonder what the pro-life candidates they elected have done, or may feel they have not done enough. Important progress has been made, but far more is required, and we always have to keep the pressure on those we have elected. But if you prevent someone from falling off a cliff, you have already achieved something quite significant. That is the first and perhaps most important success to keep in mind. In the last two elections, if the pro-abortion forces had been able to elect the people they wanted, the cause of abortion would be in a far stronger position than it is now. Much of the success of elections is in what we prevent.

There have been positive advances, including the fact that the makeup of the Supreme Court will again change this month and move in a pro-life direction. We could have had the situation this month of having two more committed pro-abortion justices on the Supreme Court for lifetime terms. We avoided falling off that cliff.

As for what we achieve, the work always remains ours. It is not easy to find pro-life activists running for office. But what we need at the very least is people who will not stand in the way of the work that we have to do. Politics is not our salvation; we the people are responsible for ending abortion. But that responsibility includes taking power away from those who take human rights away. Let’s keep abortion supporters out of office in 2006, and let’s start now!