The Rev. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life has come to Washington for the March for Life every year for close to half a century. He is here again, marching with a handful of pro-life leaders, as the virus has meant a moratorium on the huge throngs of people of years past. Political developments have ensured the spirit of the occasion lives on. Pavone said, “They have been very energized and encouraged by President Trump. We have just lived through the most pro-life presidential administration we’ve ever had.”
With a legacy of Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett, as well as hundreds of lower court appointees, Trump’s impact will outlast his controversial departure.
Now, under the Biden administration, the anti-abortion movement turns from offense to defense. On Thursday, President Biden signed an executive order that reversed the Mexico City policy. Taxpayer money can again be used to promote and fund abortions abroad. That, while 200 Republican House members wrote congressional leaders this week to express opposition to any Democratic plans to repeal the Hyde Amendment. It prohibits taxpayer money from funding private-sector abortions domestically.
For Pavone, it is a mystery why the Democratic Party remains so wedded to abortion. A Wednesday Marist Poll showed a majority of people in the United States (77%) opposed or strongly opposed taxpayer money for funding abortions abroad, including 64% who identified as “pro-choice.”
It’s a mystery, too, for Pavone why a president who claims to be a devout Catholic publicly is pro-abortion rights.
In 2015, Biden said, “I’m prepared to accept as a matter of faith, my wife and I, my family, the issue of abortion. What I’m not prepared to do is impose a rigid view … a precise view that is born out of my faith on other people who are equally God-fearing.”
Pavone responded, “If he says, ‘I believe what my church teaches. Abortion is wrong. This is a baby in the womb.’ Fine. You know what? Believe what you want to believe, but what the Catholic Church also says is you have to protect that child. “
There were 862,000 abortions in the U.S. in 2017, down 19% from 2011. The closing of some clinics and changes in morality may play roles.
Catholics and people who are anti-abortion also believe science is on their side. Advancements in the care of premature infants and in utero surgery ensure that babies are being kept alive at earlier stages.
