FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Leslie Palma
Date:917-697-7039
TITUSVILLE, FL – Priests for Life National Director Frank Pavone is offering guidance to GOP presidential candidates ahead of tonight’s debate in Alabama. Pavone, an advisor on pro-life and Catholic issues in President Trump’s election campaigns, is calling on candidates to demonstrate their alignment with the interests of the American people and offering actionable advice on how to tackle the issue of abortion, which has continued to take center stage during the Republican primaries.
Pavone has issued the below for the candidates’ consideration, and encourages them to take action with key steps:
Proposals for Candidates Regarding Abortion
Americans want less abortion, not more. They want more protections for the lives of children, not less. This is borne out by all the polling. This position puts them at odds with the agenda of Planned Parenthood and other entities that promote legal abortion, as well as the agenda of practically every Democrat candidate for federal and statewide office.
We need to expose the extremism of the Democrat Party position on abortion. This extremism is evidenced in their comments, their inability in interviews to identify a single restriction on abortion that they would support, their federal Women’s Health Protection Act, and their legislative accomplishments at the state level.
The pro-life side has practical compassion for mothers and families who feel they need abortion. The bulk of the time, effort and resources of the pro-life movement are dedicated to providing alternatives to abortion. Safe Haven laws are helping. Pregnancy centers – many of which are medical clinics -- outnumber abortion clinics by almost four to one. And pro-life legislation often includes not simply prohibiting abortion, but funding its alternatives. We need to highlight this compassion, and dispel the narrative that we do not love and support the mothers who go through these hardships.
More and more women are speaking up about how abortion harmed them. The testimonies of the Silent No More Campaign, found at AbortionTestimonies, are a powerful tool in persuading the public that abortion does not solve any problems but only creates new ones. There is no stronger case against abortion, than the testimonies of those who have experienced the devastation it causes first-hand.
We can only have a debate on abortion if we define our terms. When pro-choice people use the word “abortion,” they are thinking of women’s rights, freedom and healthcare. When pro-life people use the word “abortion,” they are thinking about the violent harm of babies. We need an honest debate about abortion – a debate that starts with a clear, objective and public description of what the abortion procedure is, using the medical textbooks on abortion as sources. This hasn’t happened because abortion supporters refuse to describe what they defend. They bring up the topic of abortion, but abortion itself is the last thing they want to talk about.
Nothing awakens the conscience of the American people more on abortion than seeing it. Countless pro-life leaders and activists have been stirred into action by seeing photos of aborted babies. The narratives of the political left often disregard what we are truly talking about, which only adds to the dehumanization of the unborn. Don’t let the back and forth about legislation distract from the bottom-line that we are talking about the brutal killing of children.
Three Proposed Action Items
- Challenge your opponent to describe what he/she defends. Tell us what an abortion is. Take some of the descriptions that medical doctors who perform abortions have provided either in their medical textbooks or under oath in courtrooms, and then read these quotes and ask your opponent, “When you say the word abortion, is this what you mean?”
- Promote legislation that decreases funding for the abortion industry but increases funding for alternatives to abortion, as so many of the existing pro-life laws do. Our support of such measures shows that we truly have practical compassion for pregnant moms in need.
- Invite one of the parents from our Silent No More Campaign to speak at one of your events and share their abortion experience with your supporters.