Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, encouraged the NFP volunteers at the convention to remember their work can actually help bring an end to abortion. He said the key is to help society see the connection between contraception and abortion.
Fr. Pavone encouraged those involved in pro-life activities to visit the website of the Alan Guttmacher Institute (a division of Planned Parenthood) at https://www.agi-usa.org/. He said he finds a lot of information on this website that he uses against them. For example, according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, of women who have abortions:
75% say having a baby would interfere with their schooling, work, or lifestyle;
66% say they cannot afford a baby;
50% say they don't want to be a single parent or are having trouble with their partner.
"Look at these reasons!" Fr. Pavone exclaimed. "They're the same ones people give for using contraception!"
He also touched on the economic link between abortion and contraception, noting that the same people making money on abortion are also making money on contraceptives.
Pope John Paul II's encyclical, The Gospel of Life, clearly connects abortion and contraception, Fr. Pavone said. For instance, paragraph 13 maintains that the negative values inherent in the contraceptive mentality increase the temptation to abort.
While contraception and abortion are both sinful, Fr. Pavone explained that they are specifically different evils. "Contraception is opposed to chastity, while abortion is opposed to justice," he said. "Yet despite their difference and gravity of sinfulness, they're connected as fruits of the same tree."
"We've forgotten that freedom must be connected to the Truth," Fr. Pavone explained. "We say something is good because we choose it. That's why some pro-choice people can look you in the eye and say, `Yes, I know abortion kills a baby, but I still want it.' It's a self-validating choice - what I say is right for me is right."
The Gospel of Life clearly says that the root of the tree connecting abortion and contraception is the eclipse of the sense of God and of man, said Fr. Pavone. "People have a distorted notion of what freedom is. They've lost sight of God Himself," he said.
Bringing this notion back to the idea of teaching NFP, Fr. Pavone emphasized that "When you teach NFP, you're not simply teaching a method; you are actually teaching the sovereignty of Almighty God, who is the Master of Life. You're teaching that sexuality belongs to God. It has a meaning inscribed by the Creator. You're teaching that there is a plan, that there is a reason for chastity, even for married persons."
Fr. Pavone said that spreading this message is what will ultimately undo the abortion industry. "When people allow God to have dominion over their sexuality, if the time isn't right for a child, they will step back and respect His design, His plan, His sovereignty."
Fr. Pavone concluded by pointing out that the pro-abortion movement's slogan is, "This is my body"; yet in contrast, NFP couples are "living Jesus' words - `This is my body, given up for you.' "
Click here to listen to Part one of the talk
Click here to listen to Part two of the talk