Is This What You Mean?

by Rev. Frank Pavone - April 14, 2008

Reprinted with permission.

We in the pro-life community have been fed up for a long time with public servants who can't seem to tell the difference between serving the public and killing the public. They want to mask the violence of abortion with the smooth language of "choice," and they don't want to lift a finger to extend the freedoms – whose merits they praise – to the neediest members of our human family, the children still in the womb.

Some of these individuals hold public office, and others seek it. This type of politician is found in both major political parties. And Church leaders have been hesitant to discipline such individuals, even as many of them claim to profess the Christian gospel.

These abortion-supporting politicians get away with what they are doing in large measure because they refuse to talk about what the "choice" actually is. They try to avoid the word "abortion" altogether; and even when they use it, the word has lost practically all its meaning. Voters have lost all connection to the gruesome reality of abortion.

This election season, it's time for that to change. No matter what politicians or voters or Church officials are or are not going to do, it's time that we draw a line in the sand and tell candidates and office-holders alike: If you're going to take a position on abortion, then you're going to have to come clean about what it is. We are no longer going to let you obscure or trivialize the issue. Whether people agree with you or not, you owe it to them to be honest about what you're talking about.

Therefore we issue this simple challenge to honesty: We will describe abortion to you, and you tell us if that's what you're talking about.

That's it, pure and simple. This is not a debate, nor a threat. It's a call to clarity, a demand for honesty. That is not partisan, nor is it unreasonable; it is not fanatical or inappropriate in any way. Nor is this about religion or morality.

We just want to make sure that we're hearing you. When you say "abortion," we want to make sure we're all talking about the same thing.

I recently posted two videos on YouTube in which I describe and demonstrate the two most common abortion techniques, using the actual instruments of abortion and the words found in medical textbooks and court testimony. Go to www.priestsforlife.org and you will see the links to these videos, as well as brief quotes you can use from abortionists themselves.

[To get to the videos directly, click here and here.]

Then simply ask pro-choice politicians (whether they're candidates or already in public office) if this is what they mean when they say "abortion." Yes or no. Ask it publicly. Ask it repeatedly. Ask it at town meetings, on blogs, in editorials. Those whose support they are seeking deserve to know.

Rev. Frank Pavone is the National Director of Priests For Life.