Fr. Frank Pavone
I have spent more than half my life strategizing about how the people of God can most effectively fight and end abortion. There is no one line that summarizes my conclusions better than what St. Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:11: "Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them."
Evil flourishes when it is hidden; injustice festers when the victim is unseen. And history demonstrates that those who have overcome social injustices have followed Paul's advice to expose the evil. For instance, those who fought the slave trade in Britain went to the ports to draw pictures of the boats and how the slaves were kept in them like sardines.
Exposing evil causes it to collapse under its own weight, as it confronts the light of human conscience. Overcoming injustice does not require that everyone believe it is injustice. There is, rather, a critical mass at some point in the process, when "enough" people are so convinced. The good news is that those people already have the conscience to reject the evil. The problem is that the evil hasn't been sufficiently exposed for them to see it.
So it is with abortion. The more it is exposed, the more people reject it. Public opinion on abortion in America has been amazingly stable since Roe vs. Wade. The most significant shift occurred when the details of the partial-birth abortion procedure were exposed in the mid-nineties. Never did a larger audience see and hear in more detail what abortion actually is.
Abortion needs to be exposed in five distinct ways:
1. Statistics Most Americans have no idea of the immense numbers of abortions, or that abortions occur throughout pregnancy. The abortion supporters themselves provide us the statistics. See the Alan Guttmacher Institute's website, www.agi-usa.org. Just seeing these facts awakens many people that a change in abortion policy is necessary.
2. Descriptions Medical textbooks like Abortion Practice use the word "decapitate" and "dismember" to describe what happens to the baby in abortion. Moreover, there are now more sworn court testimonies from practicing abortionists than ever before, on all different abortion procedures (see www.priestsforlife.org/pba). Again, the abortionists' own words work against them! When we expose evil in this way, nobody can accuse us of making it up!
3. Photos Show people what abortion looks like, and they will never feel the same about it again. See how the photos impact people by reading their testimonies at www.priestsforlife.org/resources/abortionimages/graphicspraise.htm.
4. Devastation to women, men, and families More and more mothers, fathers, and families of aborted children speak out about how they have been devastated. The power of their testimony changes minds and hearts. (See www.SilentNoMoreAwareness.org.)
5. Corruption in the abortion industry Read the book Lime 5 (contact us) and see how malpractice, fraud, and sexual abuse are rampant in legal abortion clinics. See www.ClinicWorker.com to learn of other abuses and violations.
The road to ending abortion is clearly open in front of us. Simply take the evidence above and put it before the conscience of everyone you can.
Evil flourishes when it is hidden; injustice festers when the victim is unseen. And history demonstrates that those who have overcome social injustices have followed Paul's advice to expose the evil. For instance, those who fought the slave trade in Britain went to the ports to draw pictures of the boats and how the slaves were kept in them like sardines.Exposing evil causes it to collapse under its own weight, as it confronts the light of human conscience. Overcoming injustice does not require that everyone believe it is injustice. There is, rather, a critical mass at some point in the process, when "enough" people are so convinced. The good news is that those people already have the conscience to reject the evil. The problem is that the evil hasn't been sufficiently exposed for them to see it.
So it is with abortion. The more it is exposed, the more people reject it. Public opinion on abortion in America has been amazingly stable since Roe vs. Wade. The most significant shift occurred when the details of the partial-birth abortion procedure were exposed in the mid-nineties. Never did a larger audience see and hear in more detail what abortion actually is.
Abortion needs to be exposed in five distinct ways:
1. Statistics Most Americans have no idea of the immense numbers of abortions, or that abortions occur throughout pregnancy. The abortion supporters themselves provide us the statistics. See the Alan Guttmacher Institute's website, www.agi-usa.org. Just seeing these facts awakens many people that a change in abortion policy is necessary.
2. Descriptions Medical textbooks like Abortion Practice use the word "decapitate" and "dismember" to describe what happens to the baby in abortion. Moreover, there are now more sworn court testimonies from practicing abortionists than ever before, on all different abortion procedures (see www.priestsforlife.org/pba). Again, the abortionists' own words work against them! When we expose evil in this way, nobody can accuse us of making it up!
3. Photos Show people what abortion looks like, and they will never feel the same about it again. See how the photos impact people by reading their testimonies at www.priestsforlife.org/resources/abortionimages/graphicspraise.htm.
4. Devastation to women, men, and families More and more mothers, fathers, and families of aborted children speak out about how they have been devastated. The power of their testimony changes minds and hearts. (See www.SilentNoMoreAwareness.org.)
5. Corruption in the abortion industry Read the book Lime 5 (contact us) and see how malpractice, fraud, and sexual abuse are rampant in legal abortion clinics. See www.ClinicWorker.com to learn of other abuses and violations.
The road to ending abortion is clearly open in front of us. Simply take the evidence above and put it before the conscience of everyone you can.
- Fr. Pavone is the Founding Director of Priests for Life. You may contact Priests for Life at PO Box 141172, Staten Island, NY 10314; Tel: 888-PFL-3448 or 718-980-4400; Fax: 718-980-6515; Email: mail@priestsforlife.org; Website: www.priestsforlife.org.
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