Priests for Life Condemns All Violence

Fr. Frank Pavone Comments on Stabbing of Abortion Provider

July 12, 2000 Contact: Jerry Horn, 540-785-4733

Priests for Life strongly condemns violence against any abortion provider, and is saddened to hear of the stabbing of Dr. Gary Romalis. We urge that no person or group jump to conclusions about the motive of this act until indisputable evidence is uncovered.

We strongly object, however, to the words of NAF member physician Dr. Ellen Wiebe who is reported to have said, "I call on churches to stop the rhetoric that helps mentally unstable people resort to violence."

The statement does not specify what "rhetoric" Dr. Wiebe is speaking about. The "churches" we know absolutely condemn these acts of violence.

If Dr. Wiebe or the National Abortion Federation expect for a moment that we will cease calling abortion what it is -- the killing of a human being -- they have another thing coming. We will, in fact, intensify to the maximum degree our uncompromising assertion that abortion itself is an act of violence. The US Supreme Court last week provided all the evidence one needs about this in its detailed description of various methods of decapitation and disarticulation of the unborn and partially-born (Stenberg vs. Carhart).

In fact, Priests for Life does not hesitate to blame the pro-choice movement for fostering a climate of violence. The reasons for this assertion are simple. First of all, the pro-choice movement defends an act that IS violent, namely, abortion. Second, the pro-choice mentality is that sometimes it is OK to choose to end a life to solve a problem. When someone comes along and applies that violent philosophy against the lives of abortion providers, they are practicing the message of the pro-choice movement, not of the pro-life movement or the "churches."

Dr. Romalis has said in the past, "No matter what people’s beliefs are with regard to the abortion issue, the shooting of a doctor is a violent act. It’s a terrorist act." We agree. Beliefs never justify violence, and it's time the pro-choice movement heeds its own words, and ends the violence against the unborn, despite what they "believe" about them.