Using Election Law to Expose Abortion
January 16, 2012
Below you will find my latest column, Using Election Law to Expose Abortion.
Before you read my column, let me first give you some other important
updates.
Please join us for a novena in preparation for the sad commemoration of Roe
vs. Wade which is now in progress until January 22nd. You can find the
prayer text at www.prayercampaign.org.
We are in the midst of an election season so we need to become informed
about the candidates. One way to do that is to watch tonight’s Presidential
debate on Fox News from 9-11pm ET. A timeline of more election-related
events can be found at www.politicalresponsibility.com.
I hope you can attend the upcoming pro-life events in San Francisco or
Washington, DC! Priests for Life will be at the events on both coasts. For
detailed information on events and times, see
www.priestsforlife.org/marchforlife. Here are some highlights…
• The women and men of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign will give their
testimonies at both events. In San Francisco, this happens prior to the Walk
rally. In DC, it happens at the steps of the Supreme Court as soon as the
March reaches that point. Please come and support these brave men and women.
Even if you can't be there please listen to the testimonies, pray with the
group, and spread the testimonies to others, see
www.SilentNoMoreAwareness.org.
• Stand True, the Priests for Life youth outreach headed by Bryan Kemper,
will host the March for Life youth rally on Saturday, January 21st from
7-10pm. The rally will have many informative and inspirational speakers.
• The nation's premier pro-life service on Capitol Hill, The National
Memorial for the Pre-Born and their Mothers and Fathers will take place
Monday, January 23 from 8:30-10:30am at the Capitol Visitor Center, Rm.
HVC-201. Our special musical guests will be Tony Melendez and Kelly Clinger,
recording artist and spokesperson for the Silent No More Awareness Campaign.
• Both Priests for Life and our Stand True youth outreach will have
information booths at the March for Life convention with lots of great
pro-life materials!
Blessings,
Fr. Frank Pavone
National Director
Praise for our Work
Dr. King...you and the way you live your life are such an inspiration to me.
I hope one day to get to meet you in person. I have always been interested
and active (though not as active as I'd like to be) in pro-life and your
faith and continued efforts just inspire me to keep praying, keep talking,
keep writing and keep believing. Thank you so much for your good and
positive example and for all the innocent lives you are saving. - KH (Dr.
Alveda King is Director of African American Outreach for Priests for Life
and niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)
Using Election Law to Expose Abortion
By Fr. Frank Pavone
Longtime pro-life activist Randall Terry is running for President. He is
running as a Democrat against President Obama in the primaries.
No, he does not expect to win the primary, but neither is that his motive
for running. Whatever one thinks of the man himself or his history, what he
is doing in this election deserves some attention from every pro-life person
humble enough to realize that there is something to be learned from everyone
else.
Many organizations -- including my own -- have produced pro-life ads for
television and have had some success in running them. Two major issues
arise. One, of course, is money. The other is censorship. Many times have we
and others been told by television outlets (and print and radio, for that
matter) that, although we had the money to buy the ad time, they did not
want to air something against abortion, because it would be too upsetting
and controversial for their audiences.
I have been told this regarding ads that do not show anything graphic, but
simply talk about abortion, and in some cases, show a beautiful, living
child.
But there is a way to bypass the censorship: run in a political race, and
create ads under the auspices of your election campaign. Randall Terry is
currently a federal candidate. By virtue of that fact, he has the law on his
side, permitting him to run ads that are both controversial and graphic. The
Federal Communications Commission requires stations it has licensed to run
the ads of federal candidates within 45 days of a state's primary election
or caucus. He is ready to run ads in 17 states and 40 markets including
Minneapolis, St. Louis, Denver, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Honolulu and Salt
Lake City.
And it's not just about Randall Terry. There are four candidates for the
House of Representatives who are using the same approach: Missy Smith,
Angela Michael, David Lewis, and Gary Boisclair. They are utilizing
election-related law to communicate a message to large segments of the
public, a message which under just about every other circumstance would be
censored without recourse.
The ads show the American public what an aborted child looks like. As I have
always said, America will not reject abortion until America sees abortion.
What pro-lifers have in mind when they say the word "abortion" bears little
or no resemblance to what many have in mind when they hear the word. We know
abortion is dismemberment of a living human child; others think of nothing
but "freedom, choice, and women's rights" -- important ideas and realities,
indeed, but which do nothing to help one understand what an abortion
actually is.
And if people debating abortion cannot even agree on what abortion is, much
less whether it is right, then the debate cannot even begin.
Once again, this is not about Randall Terry, nor about endorsing him. It is,
rather, about encouraging more pro-life people run for office, and use the
law to their advantage to expose the reality of abortion.
Find this column online at
www.priestsforlife.org/columns/3910-using-election-law-to-expose-abortion
Comments on this column? Go to www.askfrfrank.com
Fr. Frank's columns are podcast. See
www.priestsforlife.org/podcast
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