The Priests for Life logo (source: priestsforlife.org)
Priests for Life, the anti-abortion group led by Father Frank Pavone, announced Tuesday that it will be launching a plan “to target the abortion industry in 2012.”
Pavone, who was suspended last year from doing work outside of his diocese, reveals that “he is confident” his group “will close many abortion mills and place many abortionists in jail,” a press release announces.
It was announced last September that Pavone was suspended over allegations of “financial improprieties.” The bishop who suspended him, Patrick Zurek, wrote in his first letter announcing the suspension that his “decision is the result of deep concerns regarding his stewardship over the finances of the Priests for Life (PFL) organization. The PFL has become a business that is quite lucrative which provides Father Pavone with financial independence from all legitimate ecclesiastical oversight.”
However, Pavone is still working with the group and is hoping to shut down abortion providers in the process.
“The approach,” Fr. Pavone explained, “is simple: a) uncover the ways abortionists break the law and get them punished for it; b) reveal the nature of the abortion procedure itself; c) show the harm abortion does to the very people the abortion industry claims to serve, and d) pray more intensely than ever for abortion to end.”
“Building on the work done by many other groups with whom we collaborate, we will begin this month to accelerate the investigation of abortion clinics, which break laws left and right. We will bring special attention to the ten abortionists in Texas who have to answer to the Texas Medical Board for numerous violations, and will see to it that they are held accountable,” Fr. Pavone explained.
“As I have said since I began my work with Priests for Life in 1993, our job is to exploit the weaknesses of the abortion industry, which is collapsing under its own weight. The evil it does cannot withstand the light of human conscience.”
Pavone has been a prominent figure in the anti-abortion movement. He has taken part in the racially charged “pro-life freedom rides” demonstration and has accused Planned Parenthood of “targeting the abortion of black babies.” He said the chain of women’s clinics “is eager and willing to cover up the prostitution enslavement of young girls — including minorities — so long as they make money doing it.”
He has more recently compared supporting abortion rights to supporting terrorism.
