Abortions can be stopped and lives can be saved long before laws are changed. The children scheduled to die tomorrow don't have time for legislators to pass laws to protect them. This is one of the ways in which the pro-life cause reveals itself to be much more than a "political" issue. It is an emergency to which the People of God need to respond here and now, to save the lives of the most defenseless among us. It is a concrete demand of charity.

There is a simple way we can activate our parishes to respond: Spread the phone numbers at which people can find alternatives to abortion. And one of the most effective ways to spread them is not only to put them in the bulletin but to put them on the bulletin, in other words, right there on the front cover along with the other standard phone numbers that we always want to make known to our people. After all, the need for abortion alternatives is not seasonal or occasional, and, as a matter of life and death, certainly has priority importance over other numbers.

Studies and the experience of those who work with women in crisis pregnancy indicate that most do not know that there are alternatives to abortion, and most would choose an alternative if it were offered. I have seen women walk out of the waiting rooms of abortion facilities simply because they saw someone outside holding a sign offering alternatives. The irony of the rhetoric "freedom of choice" is that women get abortions precisely because they feel they have no freedom and no choice. A simple phone number on the bulletin can change all that. Now which numbers do we use? Certainly, local numbers through which people can contact resources in the diocese or community are always valuable. As a national movement, Priests for Life also makes known national hotline numbers that can connect people to help in any part of the country. The criteria we use for which numbers we publicize are that they are 1) toll-free, 2) accessible 24 hours a day, 3) available from anywhere in the country, and 4) serviced by a live person at all times. You may wish to call the number yourself to find further information in order to determine which you want to publicize.

We therefore invite pastors to put one or more of the following numbers somewhere on the cover of your bulletin as a permanent item:

 Nurturing Network 800-TNN-4MOM

 Pregnancy Hotline 800-848-LOVE

 Bethany Christians Services 800-238-4269

 Several Sources Foundation 800-NO-ABORT

 America's Crisis Pregnancy Helpline 800-67-BABY-6

 Birthright 800-550-4900

We invite parishioners to make this option known to their pastors.

Furthermore, these numbers can be posted in the vestibule, distributed in our high schools and colleges, put in parish mailings, and displayed in the local press or cable TV bulletin board. There is hardly a simpler thing that can be done for the pro-life cause. Let's not put it off until tomorrow!
 

Father Pavone is the International Director of Priests for Life
and an official at the Vatican’s Council for the Family.

Contact Priests for Life at P.O. Box 141172, Staten Island, N.Y. 10314, Tel. 888 1PFL-3448, fax 718-980-6515, email pfl@priestsforlife.org, web site http://www.priestsforlife.org/.

Copyright ©1999 Arlington Catholic Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.

This article was published in the Arlington Catholic Herald,
200 N. Glebe Rd., Suite 607, Arlington, VA 22203; Vol 24, No 6,
dated Feb 11, 1999, on page 5.
.
E-mail: letters@catholicherald.com
Fax: 703/524-2782;
Editorial: 703/841-2590;
Advertising: 703/841-2594;
Circulation: 703/841-2565

Send a letter (preferable) or email to your u.s. Senators and congressman using the the Directory at the Congressional Email Directory.  It is easy  - just Point and click here to navigate to their web site

A note from the Web Master:

It is noteworthy and honorable that some folks are willing to stand up for a ban on Partial-Birth Abortion.  Let us not forget that Abortion is also murder.  We must understand that murder is still murder no matter the method.  Because one method of abortion seems to be horrifying does not justify the other less repugnant methods.  We should be sickened by any Abortion regardless of the method.  The Fifth Commandment spells it out clearly: "Thou shalt not kill."  A fetus is a person, a human being with a God given soul.  Imagine the pain the Lord must feel when any Abortion occurs.  Please, please, please contact your Senators and Congressman, via letter or phone,  to let him/her know how upset you are that Abortions are legal and to pass and support  legislation to stop Partial-Birth Abortions and all other Abortions as soon as possible.

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