The Rev. Frank Pavone, a leading Catholic anti-abortion activist and national director of Priests for Life, is in Pittsburgh to lead an international retreat for seminarians and will participate in a demonstration outside a health clinic tomorrow.
But organizers of the events said that Pavone was misrepresented in news releases concerning the legal demonstration planned outside of Planned Parenthood-Women s Health Services, Downtown.
They were divided over whether the releases were issued by well-intended but clueless allies or by abortion-rights activists out to discredit Priests for Life.
Contrary to claims made in one release, Pavone is not going to issue a Vatican statement declaring Pittsburgh to be Ground Zero of the anti-abortion movement, said Andrew Smith, director of the speakers bureau of Priests for Life. Pavone is in Pittsburgh to lead a retreat for an international group of seminarians, who will join local protesters in prayer and picketing outside the clinic at 7 a.m., Smith said.
"Anti-abortion forces have united nationally to target Pittsburgh, Pa., as Ground Zero for their abortion war because of its status as the home of the longest-running abortuary in the nation. Vatican representative Father Frank Pavone has called for a news conference to be held at Women s Health Services to express the Vatican s support in this effort," one release said.
"We can tell by the very wording that they are actually pro-abortion activists," said Smith. "These are not anybody we are in collaboration with or would support." Pittsburgh was chosen for the retreat because it was a convenient location, he said.
The release bore the name of Face the Truth America, a local anti-abortion group that displays graphic images of aborted fetuses in public places. It was faxed locally from McGann & Chester Inc., but included the name of Laura Tellier, a Florida woman who does public relations for some anti-abortion groups.
Smith said that the seminarians are scheduled to work with Face the Truth America on Tuesday. Local representatives of Face the Truth America were unavailable yesterday.
Tellier said she had not seen that news release and called it "misleading." But she authored others describing Pavone as a representative of the Vatican.
Pavone s organization and the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh said that Pavone is a consultant to the Vatican s Pontifical Council on the Family, but that advising the Vatican does not make him its spokesman.
Pavone has been an outspoken opponent of violence within the anti-abortion movement and may be best known for offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of anyone who tries to kill abortion providers. Priests for Life advises Catholic priests on how to preach against abortion, deal sensitively with those who confess complicity in abortion and discern how their parishes can be most effectively involved in the movement.
"Father Pavone is not a Vatican representative. He is a priest of the Archdiocese of New York and director of Priests for Life," said Robert Lockwood, director of communications for the Diocese of Pittsburgh.
As for the idea that the Vatican had declared Pittsburgh to be Ground Zero for a "war" against abortion, "I think they would have told us," Lockwood said wryly.
Pittsburgh is not the focus of the anti-abortion movement, said Helen Cindrich, executive director of People Concerned for the Unborn Child, the major anti-abortion group in the region.
"It s just excess, baloney," she said. "The person who sent that release is what gives us a bad name. They are sincere, but overenthusiastic."
That release and several others said Pavone would hold a news conference at 7 a.m. Although he will be outside the clinic then, no news conference is planned, Smith said.
"It will be a peaceful protest. Father Frank will be preaching on the sidewalk and certainly praying the rosary. People will be reading scripture and holding signs and trying to talk to the young ladies as they go into the abortion mill," Smith said.
Kim Evert, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood-Women s Health Services of Western Pennsylvania, said it would be business as usual at the clinic despite the protest.
"They have the right to protest. There are certain rules that do need to be followed, and we work with the police to make sure it s orderly and that our patients have the right to service. That is the most important thing," she said.
The retreat that Pavone is to direct will feature other prominent activists, including Norma McCorvey, the Jane Roe of Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. McCorvey has since become an anti-abortion activist.
About 50 seminarians from 15 states, Mexico, Portugal and South Africa have registered.
"These are our future leaders," Smith said of the seminarians. "Our hope is to get them together in Pittsburgh for five days to give them the best and latest cutting-edge information and resources available in the pro-life movement today."