NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Father Frank Pavone, the Chairman of the influential pro-life group Priests for Life and host of the “End Abortion” podcast, spoke with The Tennessee Star on Thursday about the future of the movement and the possible reversal of Roe v Wade.
“The Supreme Court of course, is about to do something momentous with the abortion issue. We’ve been waiting for a decision like this for a long time that would deal directly with the question of whether or not the Constitution provides any kind of a right to abortion,” he said.
Pavone added that over the years, the court ruled on issues on the edges of the landmark 1972 decision, but never took on the central questions upon which the opinion rests.
“Interestingly, even though the Court has ruled dozens of times on abortion since Roe v. Wade, none of those cases has taken the question directly – even Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which reaffirmed Roe. They reaffirmed Roe sort of at an arm’s distance with their hands over their nose,” continued Father Pavone.
“They dismantled a lot of Roe and they didn’t even defend the rationale for which Roe was saying there was some sort of constitutional basis for abortion,” he continued. “This is really the first time that the Court, since Roe, has faced the question head on – and Roe was done so poorly, in terms of the procedural way the case was handled, bad science, bad history, and absolutely no constitutional reasoning.”
“In one sense, you could say, this case that the Court is about to issue a ruling on is the first time that they have adequately, substantially, and directly addressed the question – does the Constitution provide a right to abortion?” the head of Priests for Life said.
“If the leaked draft opinion is any indication, they really handled it in the best way we could expect,” he added.
Pavone went on to discuss how the Left and pro-abortion side of the issue is reacting to the pending decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The other side, if they believe their own rhetoric, they would be calm as a cucumber – because they keep saying that America does not want to do away with the right to abortion or reverse Roe. They say all the time that most people are with us,” he said
“If they really believed that, they would be sitting back and taking it easy. As it is, they’re freaking out. They’re going crazy,” he said.
“The reason is they don’t believe their own rhetoric and they know that the basis on which they relied on for so long is being taken away from them,” continued the priest.
Father Pavone said that in the face of a reversal of Roe v Wade, the pro-abortion crowd must defend the procedure without the benefit of the once-‘settled law.’
“Now they have to join the adults club. What I mean by that is, the supporters of open abortion for all have relied on this declaration of the Court that abortion is a constitutional right – it’s like that shuts down all argument,” he said.
“Now, not just in the courts – more importantly in the legislatures – those who want to have open abortion on demand, they have to make their case. If they can persuade their fellow citizens, their lawmakers, to keep abortion legal, they can do that,” he said.
“But they’ve been treated like children by Roe v. Wade. They haven’t had to work that process, that painstaking process of lobbying and lawmaking,” the priest pointed out. “Instead, they’ve had it on a silver platter and now that’s been taken away from them so they are behaving like spoiled children.”
“So we’re very much looking forward to this decision coming out and then working with the lawmakers around the country to make progress,” Pavone said.
The popular podcaster and faith leader is in Nashville for the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s ‘Road to Majority’ Policy Conference which is taking place from June 16-18 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center.
According to the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s website, “For the past eleven years, the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Policy Conference has empowered conservative activists to fight for their values at the polls and in the public arena. Designed to forge a path toward a pro-family majority, the conference will equip attendees with the knowledge and connections they need to drive engagement and voter turnout. This year’s timely gathering will accelerate conservatives further down the road to majority in the 2022 midterm elections.”
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Aaron Gulbransen is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]. Follow Aaron on GETTR, Twitter, Truth Social, and Parler.
Photo “Father Frank Pavone” by Frank Pavone.Â
