Catholic, African-American Pro-Life Advocates Confront Congress on Abortion
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 18, 2008
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Catholic and African-American pro-life advocates are directly confronting members of Congress today on what they mean when they say they support legal abortions. Fr. Frank Pavone joined with Dr. Alveda King for three days of visits to Congressional offices to confront elected officials.
The pro-life figures hoped to get the members of Congress to admit they support the destruction of human life and then change their minds.
“The abortion debate often lacks a starting point, because the word has lost practically all its meaning,” Father Pavone tells LifeNews.com.
“We’ve been visiting Congressional offices, bringing diagrams of the procedure and quotes of abortionists, and then have asked, ‘Is this what you mean when you say abortion?’” he explained.
King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., former abortion practitioner Dr. Anthony Levatino and other Catholic pro-life advocates joined Pavone as part of the “Is This What You Mean?” campaign.
“The last thing that abortion supporters want to talk about is abortion,” Fr. Pavone added. “But this campaign puts the words of the abortionists before the public, so that those who vote in favor of abortion can no longer hide from its violent reality.”
The meetings included visits with the Congressional members and committee leaders, including members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
King told LifeNews.com that she hopes members of Congress came away with a different view of abortion and what it does to women and children.
She presented images of unborn children who have been killed in abortions.
“Just as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and William Wilburforce insisted on graphically demonstrating the plight of the oppressed in their days, we are compelled to follow their example," she said.
“While it is becoming increasingly apparent that women are secondary victims of abortion, it cannot be denied that babies in the womb are our weakest and most vulnerable Americans and they need advocates. Their civil rights and very lives are at stake,” she added.
King said that she told those with whom she met, “These images are gruesome, yet they are real. We ask you, ‘When you say the word abortion, is this what you mean?’ Your constituents are asking us this question and we want to give them your reply.”
The Priests for Life team visited both pro-life and pro-abortion representatives and they stressed the importance of clarifying that the word “abortion” is not just an issue or a concept, but that it refers to the taking of a human life.
During her Capitol Hill visits, Dr. King also released an open letter on abortion from fellow black leaders to the Congressional Black Caucus.
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