Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life and Missionaries of the Gospel of Life and president of the National Pro-life Religious Council, heralded President Donald Trump as “the most pro-life president we have ever had,” offering his remarks in a Thursday interview on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Tonight with hosts Rebecca Mansour and Joel Pollak.
Mansour asked about the theme of science for Friday’s March for Life in Washington, DC.
Pavone explained, “The speakers at the rally and also at the educational convention, which actually started today, sponsored by the March for Life, are focusing on this theme that good pro-life thinking is good science, and vice-versa.”
Pavone continued, “Our position is that there’s one objective line that is already drawn. It’s not drawn by any government or any particular interest group. One line that already exists that should be the defining line when we’re going to protect people or not is the biological event by which it was first decided that any one of us would be male or female or what color our eyes would be or any one of countless genetic qualities and characteristics we have. It was all decided at the same event, namely, our fertilization.”
Pavone added, “This is a basic scientific fact. Pick up an embryology book, or you ask an eighth-grade biology student, ‘When does an individual’s unique human life begin?’ The answer is objective science.”
Pavone said, “A lot of people look at a pro-life movement or a march like tomorrow’s, and they’ll say, ‘These people are trying to impose their religion or morality on others.’ It’s actually the opposite because we believe in freedom of religion. People can have any philosophy or idea they want about personhood or the soul or even the value of life, but the law doesn’t impose those beliefs. The law protects people despite those beliefs.”
Pavone went on, “If someone came along and said that you or I were not human, we don’t want the law to make them believe we’re human. We want the law to protect our lives no matter what they believe. They have the freedom to believe what they want, and that’s what the pro-life movement is saying. These babies in the womb are identifiably, undeniably, scientifically human beings and, therefore, they should be protected by the law.”
Mansour shared an anecdote of a friend of hers who “became pro-life” while studying genetics.
“I remember a friend that I went to college with when she was studying pre-med,” recalled Mansour. “She was having to take genetics classes, the early gene stuff. That was when she became pro-life because she realized this is a human being. This is a unique life. This isn’t just a glob of tissues. The science has moved us in the pro-life direction, especially the science of sonograms.”
Pavone concurred, “We’re in an age now where the first photograph in your photo album is you still in the womb. Sonograms have really moved the debate forward. There are some projects we’ve been involved in that go even deeper than the ultrasound. There are techniques where you can put a camera right up against the amniotic sac and see the baby at four, five, six weeks in living color.”
Pavone added, “I invite people to just look at this stuff. Look it up online. You can see the pictures of these babies, and that’s where we have to start. I think we’ve not really had a debate on abortion for the last fifty years in this country. A lot of times we feel like we’re having the debate, but the two sides are talking past each other.”
Pavone stated, “We say the word ‘abortion,’ marchers that are going to march to tomorrow. We have a clear idea in mind. We see the baby we’re talking about, and we see what abortion does to the baby. Folks on the other side who are opposing us, they’re talking about something different. They’re not talking about abortions. They’re talking about freedom, the Constitution, women’s rights, women’s health. Fine, we can talk about those things. But if you’re going to talk about abortion, you need to look at the baby, and then you need to look at what abortion does to the baby, and that is where the debate begins.”
Pavone went on, “You just have to see for yourself. It’s science. People look at these photos, these images, and these videos, and they say, ‘Wow. In a generic sense, I knew it was a human life, but wow, this baby is way more developed than I thought.'”
Mansour remarked, “I worked for former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for many years, and she was very articulate on this issue. She had a very compassionate stance on it. She always talked about how we need to be able to reach out to women who are struggling with an unplanned pregnancy… and really offer them a real choice.”
Mansour continued, “The choice can’t just be abortion. If you’re a real feminist — my former boss used to say — then you really want women to have a real choice, the ability to choose life. That, to me, always seems to be the big challenge for those of us who are pro-life. How are we doing in building a culture of life and making it possible for women to choose life?”
Pavone shared, “One of the most beautiful things about tomorrow’s march is that so many of these marchers, when they are back home the rest of the year, they are working in pregnancy centers. The pregnancy centers around our country now outnumber the abortion facilities by about five to one. Pregnancy centers have people who are, every day, giving counseling, helping people find legal services, job and education opportunities they can pursue while having the child, assisting them to give birth to that baby.”
Pavone went on, “This is the positive work of the pro-life movement, giving those alternatives. That’s actually the first part of our message. Whenever we talk about this [and] whenever the pro-life movement presents itself — who are we? what do we do? — We help those that feel they need to have an abortion to see that there are other alternatives. That really is the good news about the pro-life movement.”
Mansour asked Pavone about Trump’s approach towards the pro-life movement’s concerns.
“Tell us about how you view President Trump [and] his stand on abortion and pro-life issues,” requested Mansour. “This is a person many people looked askance at, didn’t think he was being for real [on pro-life issues] when he was a candidate, and yet he seems to have kept all of his promises on this issue. Correct me if I’m wrong.”
Pavone answered, “Let me summarize it this way: I have a Make America Great Again hat, and I have worn it publicly. I was one of the first Catholic leaders to come out in support of him during the primaries, and he asked me to be part of two coalitions: a pro-life advisory group and a Catholic advisory group.”
“This is a man who listens,” assessed Pavone. “When he doesn’t know something, he wants to learn it. He surrounds himself with people who can inform him. I have come to the conclusion, as many other pro-life leaders have, he is the most pro-life president we have ever had, and I’m talking about pro-life specifically — of course, in relation to the abortion issue, the protection of the youngest babies among us.”
Pavone added, “This man has gone above and beyond even what he promised. For example, he reinstated the Mexico City Policy, but then he expanded it to protect our taxpayer dollars from organizations that perform or promote abortions overseas.”
Pavone concluded, “Time and time again, in many other examples, he has not only kept his promises; he’s gone above and beyond. I think he’s the best friend that our movement for the unborn has ever had in the White House.”
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