Fr. Frank Pavone responds to Nationwide Injunction

Thanks Judge for Vindicating Pro-life Activities

The US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, has just issued a nationwide injunction in relation to the "Now vs. Scheidler" case that has been in progress for twelve years.

The injunction rightly prohibits violence and threats of violence. Yet I know nobody in the world more opposed to violence than Joseph Scheidler, Andrew Scholberg, and Timothy Murphy, defendants in this case.

While pro-abortion forces claim victory in this injunction, it actually vindicates what we do in the pro-life movement. The injunction specifically states that it "does not prohibit or preclude expressive activities that are constitutionally protected, including but not limited to the following conduct: a) Peacefully carrying picket signs on the public property in front of any Plaintiff Clinic; b) Making speeches on public property; c) Speaking to individuals approaching the clinic; d) Handing out literature on public property; and e) Praying on public property."

I thank the Judge for making it crystal clear that we have a perfect right to these activities. We will intensify them all over the country, and not a single facility that provides abortion will be skipped over.

Conduct that is enjoined includes "interfering with the right of any member of the Certified Class of Plaintiff Clinics to conduct its business (including…the right to provide abortion services)."

The injunction speaks of the "right to provide abortion services." No such right, morally speaking, ever existed or ever will exist. Any law that upholds such a right is not a valid law.

The injunction likewise speaks of the "right" of a woman "to avail herself of the Plaintiff Clinics' services," including "abortion services." No such right, morally speaking, ever existed or ever will exist. Any law that upholds such a right is not a valid law.

We will continue to teach what Pope John Paul II reminded us of in his encyclical letter The Gospel of Life (1995): "Laws which authorize and promote abortion … are completely lacking in authentic juridical validity. There is no obligation in conscience to obey such laws; instead there is a grave and clear obligation to oppose them by conscientious objection." (EV 72-73)

Rest assured. The pro-life movement has only just begun.

Fr. Frank Pavone

National Director

Priests for Life

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