July-August 2004

At the Prayer Breakfast July 2 for the National Right to Life Convention, Fr. Frank Pavone, founder and director of Priests for Life, spoke to the pro-life guests about the critical situation our country is in since the Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion. "It is no exaggeration to say that Roe v. Wade was the establishment of a different form of government in America. In denying that the unborn child was a human person, it separated ... human life from the protection of the Constitution, therefore declaring a new form of government, namely that we can decide that some human lives do not have to be protected."

Fr. Pavone explained there are basically two types of government: one that says that rights come from God, and one that says government is the source of those rights and the government can add or subtract from those rights.

Our founding fathers understood "that the great experiment in self-governance on which they were embarking would never succeed if God were separated from the state or if the state were separated from morality," Fr. Pavone said. In one example of this, he quoted Alexander Hamilton: "The law dictated by God Himself is, of course, superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all people, all countries and at all times. No human laws are of any validity if contrary to this."

"One thing we are going to be deciding on Nov. 2 is with which of those two types of government America will continue to be governed," the Priests for Life director declared.

Fr. Pavone emphasized how important it is "to use our vote this year to advance the culture of life. Because this is not a question of whether "pro-choice" wins or pro-life wins. If pro-life doesn't win, nobody wins. There is no victory in death."