Catholic Group Leaves Anti-War Coalition Over Pro-Abortion March

by Paul Nowak
LifeNews.com Staff Writer
August 9, 2004

South Bend, IN (LifeNews.com) -- The participation of an anti-war coalition of groups in the pro-abortion march on Washington in April has led a Catholic peace organization to sever its ties with the umbrella group.

The Catholic Peace Fellowship, a member group of the larger organization, United for Peace and Justice, found that UFPJ was a supporter of the pro-abortion "March to Save Women's Lives"

In a letter of withdrawal, the Catholic Peace Fellowship wrote that they were "forced to terminate membership in United for Peace and Justice because of [UFPJ's] endorsement of the 'March for Women's Lives' scheduled for 25 April 2004 in Washington, D.C."

"Our constituency and our Church leadership would have no faith in our integrity otherwise," states the letter. "More fundamentally, we hold that: 'No one has the right to choose life or death for another; to assume such power has always been recognized
as the ultimate form of oppression,'" citing the CPF's statement on abortion.

Referring to UFPJ's statement of purpose, the Unity Statement, CPF pointed out that "Nowhere in that document is there mention of 'reproductive rights' or the 'freedom' to choose to kill."

CPF's policy on abortion is nothing new, having been adopted in 1974 in order to make clear its position that human life begins at conception, and that reverence for life should be extended even to those in the womb.

In the weeks before the pro-abortion march was to take place, professional protesters and advocacy groups not related to the abortion issue, such as UFPJ, were invited to swell the numbers of the crowd. Despite such efforts, march organizers fell hundreds of thousands of participants short of their goal of over one million march participants.

Related web sites:
Catholic Peace Fellowship - http://www.catholicpeacefellowship.org