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Anti-Choice Group Launches $12 million Ad Campaign Priests for Life targets abortion providers under guise of protecting women June 14, 2001. In yet another assault on the constitutionally protected right of free choice, the Staten Island (NY)-based anti-abortion group Priests for Life, headed by Fr. Frank Pavone, has unleashed a $12 million media campaign against abortion and abortion-providers. Since June 1, two full-page ads have appeared in national newspapers--the Wall Street Journal (cost for national distribution: $192,000) and USA Today (cost for national distribution: $68,300)--condemning the "exploitation of women" by the "abortion industry." "Isn't it remarkable," said Alfred F. Ross, President of the New York-based Institute for Democracy Studies (IDS), "that the very people who want to return women to the deadly days of backroom abortionists are daring to present themselves as motivated by their concern for women's health and safety. It is beyond disingenuous. It is obscene." Priests for Life strives to maintain the image of a mainstream anti-choice group, and Pavone likewise portrays himself as a responsible anti-choice activist. However, as documented in the recently published IDS report, Priests for Life: A New Era in Antiabortion Activism, Pavone has explicitly justified criminal trespass against abortion-providing clinics, and has encouraged the blocking of clinic doors. In addition, Pavone and Priests for Life have ties to the militant direct-action fringe of the anti-abortion movement. The recent newspaper campaign has been endorsed by members of the National Pro-Life Religious Council--a project of the National Right to Life Committee--which is establishing anti-choice cells within mainline religious denominations. IDS senior program associate Lew Daly has documented the efforts of these groups in his article, "Shepherding the Abortion Rights Rollback," which appeared in IDS INSIGHTS. In confronting this new and well-funded challenge to free-choice, Alfred Ross urges "the pro-choice community and all Americans-including the media--to learn more about the real agenda and operations of Priests for Life." For more information, or to receive a copy of either "Priests for Life: A New Era of Antiabortion Activism" or "Shepherding the Abortion Rights Rollback," contact John Tessitore at 212 423-9237. |