Adapted by Rev J Morrow, Humanae Vitae House,Braemar, AB35 5YT, from an article by Rev. Frank A. Pavane, M.A., National Director, Priests for Life, P.O. Box 141172, Staten Island, New York 10314, Tel. (914) 937-8243, Fax. (914) 937-9207
This material is prepared for the purpose of encouraging all pro-lifers to increase their presence in the streets with the message of truth regarding the gift of life. The denial of truth is fuelling the abortion holocaust. We need to be out in the streets with our message, and this can be done.
Priests for Life is an association that enables clergy to be more active in the pro-life movement. It also serves the many other groups in the movement by providing training, networking and a wide range of literature and tapes. Fr. Pavane is also available for speaking engagements.
This material may be reproduced, with proper attribution.
Abortion cannot be defended. It goes on because of lies, and because of the silence of those who know the truth. When abortion is entrenched in national policy, it is to the benefit of the pro-aborts to silence any further public debate on the issue. If they have what they want, why should they risk losing it by allowing people to hear the truth of the pro-life position? Why fight pro-life arguments? Just prevent them from being heard! Why even raise a question about abortion? Just maintain the status quo!
We see, in fact, the pro-life message being excluded from the media, from educational institutions, and from the government. Pro-aborts are less willing even to engage in debates with pro-lifers on the issue. How, then, is the public to hear the truth about abortion? Certainly the Churches have to be activated. There are many Churches which need to be roused out of silence regarding abortion. While efforts are made at this, however, there is still the need to reach the public now. Furthermore, those who never go to Church need to be reached as well.
What other avenue is open to pro-lifers by which they can reach the general public with the truth, and do so immediately? That avenue is the street. Throughout our history, the street has been the forum by which great and small, rich and poor alike could voice their message to others. In fact, no major social movement has succeeded in bringing about change in our country, for better or for worse, without taking to the streets. Even if the other means of reaching the public were more open to us, the street would still have an irreplaceable value and effectiveness.
Pro-lifers need to come out into the streets for several reasons.
1. The street enables us to take our message directly to the public, bypassing the government, the media, educational facilities, and all those in the institutions who seek to silence the pro-life message. People driving or walking are not there because they want to hear us, but because they are going about their daily duties. The entire cross-section of the public is reached. We meet people where they are, and make it impossible for them to ignore us. This counteracts the efforts of those who would privatise the Gospel, and confine the pro-life and Christian message merely to our homes and Churches. The message of life is true not only in our homes and Churches, but everywhere, including streets and public places.
2. There is a double tragedy to abortion. The first tragedy is that it occurs. The second tragedy is that while it occurs, life for so many goes on "business as usual." Abortion becomes part of the landscape; it recedes into the scenery and is considered a normal part of the orderly functioning of society. Things are at peace, the streets are quiet, and from the looks of things, "Everything's OK."
But everything is not OK if babies are being killed. The apparent peace and order of society are superficial and illusory. That peace and order are being destroyed behind closed doors by abortion. A false peace and order covers over this injustice.
By coming out onto the streets, we declare that everything's not OK, that life cannot go on "business as usual" whilst hundreds of babies are killed daily. Those who support the killing tell us, :Leave us alone in peace!" To do so, however, is to support a false peace. "`Peace, peace!' they say, though there is no peace" (Jer. 6:14). This is the kind of false peace our Lord condemned when He said, "Do not think I have come to establish peace on earth. I assure you, the opposite is true. I have come for division" (Luke 12:51). Our presence on the streets shows that we are not at peace with abortion. It calls for a division of good people from this evil. It refuses to yield to an unjust tranquillity.
3. By going into the streets, we always win. Whether people agree crucial. The Churches must also be involved. (See below).
Street activities are an excellent opportunity to recruit new helpers into the pro-life movement. A march or a Life Chain may be a person's only active involvement with the movement in the space of a year. Records must be kept. Names, addresses, and phone numbers of all participants should be taken at every event. This will enable organisers to contact these people directly for future events. The participants should be made to feel needed and wanted.
Once names and numbers have been taken, there needs to be follow-up. A note thanking the person for participating will be very effective. A phone call asking the person's help for a project can be very fruitful. People need to know exactly how and why they are needed in the movement. Rather than asking a general question like, "Would you like to be (or remain) involved?", ask instead, "Can you do this task for this specific project? We need your skills."
Sometimes a person seems interested on one day and not interested the next. This should not deter the pro-life recruiter. People have good and bad days. By keeping in contact frequently with a new or potential activist, a recruiter can engender and sustain new commitments.
The best constituency for the pre-born children are regular Churchgoers. Clergy have a key role in motivating their people to stop the killing and to convert the nation against abortion. They have a serious duty to preach the truth in the pulpit and to lead their people to bring the truth into the streets.
Pro-lifers should approach their clergy regularly to encourage them to speak and take action against abortion. They should congratulate their priests when they do speak out, and gently but firmly remind them if they don't.
A very effective approach is for two or three experienced pro-lifers to have a meeting with the parish priest and other parochial clergy, in which they
l) tell them how valuable their leadership is;
2) explain their own motivation and experience in the pro-life movement;
3) update the clergy if necessary on the current situation in the movement;
4) pledge their co-operation for specific projects that can be implemented in the local Church;
5) seek the clergy's encouragement and leadership for one or more of these projects or for a project they may come up with.
The approach in such a meeting is not, "Father, you're not doing your job," but rather, "Father, we are behind you to support you in your pro-life leadership role. Let's get to work together!"
Helpful materials for clergy are available through Priests for Life, P.O. Box 141172, Staten Island, NY 10314.
Similarly, the duty to defend life is inalienable. The state does not give it, nor can the State take it away. The duty to speak the truth is inalienable. The duty to break the silence and to come out onto the streets is inalienable. At Denver Colorado, Aug 1993, the Holy Father urged us to do precisely that.
And the time is now. Pro-lifers need to come into the streets and public places to awaken the public to the injustice and violence of abortion, and see to it that this evil is not covered over by a false peace that allows abortion to become just a normal part of the landscape. Pro-lifers need to come into the streets and public places to tell the abortion industry that we will not go away until they stop killing babies and exploiting women. Pro-lifers need to come out into the streets and public places to tell the media that they cannot ignore us, and to alert the government that the people want a change and want it now. It is time for us, the governed,to address child-killing clearly and say to those who govern us "We do not consent!" This message must resound where everyone can hear it and where nobody can ignore it. Responsibility to end the killing rests with the people, and the people must make their will known publicly. Our media is the streets.
Pro-life presence in the streets takes many different forms. It is important for pro-life individuals and groups to have a clear idea of these different activities, and to be aware of the specific purpose and procedures of an event they organise or participate in. Pro-life groups should consult with local police whenever they have a street event.
The following is not an exhaustive list, but illustrates some of the main varieties of street presence. These are not listed in any order of importance, effectiveness, or recommendation.
1. Marches. A march brings a group of pro-lifers together to move through a village or city on the pavement or road. Rather than focusing on one location, a larger territory is covered, and the focus is to raise public awareness about abortion. Signs and banners are effectively used on marches. Special pro-life floats and motorcades can also be utilised.
2. Life Chains. In a Life Chain, pro-lifers stand still in a single line, several feet from one another, along a road or highway, all holding similar signs made available through the National Life Chain leaders. The signs say "Abortion Kills Children," "Adoption, the Loving Option," "Jesus Forgives and Heals," and "Abortion Hurts Women." A Life Chain varies in length from a few blocks to many miles, and generally lasts an hour or two. The goal is public awareness of abortion, and the location is any public street or highway where people can see the message.
3. Prayer Vigils. At a prayer vigil, pro-lifers gather to lift up their hearts and voices to God, asking Him to bring an end to abortion, to save babies and their mothers, and to convert abortionists and the entire society. A prayer vigil can be conducted at an abortion mill, sometimes involving a march from a local Church. It can also be conducted at some other public place like a park, monument, or civic building. Catholics will normally include the Rosary at such events. The vigil can take many other forms as well, with Scriptural proclamations, psalms, hymns, litanies, and sermons. Some prayer vigils are held without any signs, since the focus is prayerful presence to call down God's grace for the protection of the children, the salvation of the mothers, and, for those babies who are killed, to assure that they do not die alone.
4. Pickets. A picket involves a group of pro-lifers who target a specific institution and/or public figure who provides or supports abortion. Signs are used and participants generally walk back and forth in front of the chosen location. Abortion mills are picketed, as are hospitals which provide abortions, offices and homes of abortionists, offices and homes of pro-abortion public figures, fund raising events that benefit the abortion industry, and various other events. The intention here is both to raise public awareness about child-killing and how a particular person or institution supports it, and to bring pressure to bear on that person or institution to repent. In the case of an abortionist's office or a hospital, patients coming for legitimate reasons will often be unaware that baby killing is occurring there, and as a result of the picket, will sometimes choose to seek their medical needs elsewhere. Picketing activity will often cause an office to lose its lease.
5. Pavement counselling. Whenever pro-lifers are in the vicinity of an abortion mill, they can reach out with compassion to women coming there for abortions, and make an appeal to those women not to go in. Alternatives are offered, and the pro-lifers should be ready to take the woman to the closest crisis pregnancy centre. Literature is offered, which refers to the humanity of the child, the harm abortion does to the mother, and the alternatives. The pavement counsellor usually has a very brief time to make one or two statements which may educate the woman on facts about abortion that she did not know. Many women on their way in to the abortion mill are still ambivalent about their "choice"; many are even waiting and secretly hoping for someone to tell them not to do this. Pavement counselling can take place on its own or in conjunction with a prayer vigil, picket, or rescue.
It is important for the pavement counsellor to try to speak to the woman when she comes out after her abortion as well as before she goes in. The woman who has just aborted her child needs to know that we can help her find healing. She should also be told that she can sue the abortionist for damages done to her from the abortion. Also, many abortions are repeat abortions. You may save her from this.
6. Rescues. A rescue focuses on intervening directly and peacefully to prevent the child from being brought into contact with the instruments which will kill him/her. Pro-lifers might block the doors to the abortion mill with their bodies or with other objects. When police try to remove them, they will go limp, thereby refusing to abandon the children scheduled to die. The time it takes to open access to the mill allows pavement counsellors to plead with the mothers to spare their children. Rescues are not acts of civil disobedience or protests primarily meant to get a message to the public. Instead, they are simple efforts to save people about to be killed. Breaking a law of trespass to prevent killing is perfectly justified in this and other circumstances.
7. Literature-drops. The distribution of literature has long been a way to educate the public. There are numerous pro-life fliers available, which can be handed out on public sidewalks or placed on cars or on the doors of local residents.
8. Teach-ins. The public needs to be educated about abortion. In a teach-in, a handful of pro-lifers gather on a street corner or other public area and begin speaking aloud on the abortion issue. They will bring some sort of podium, educational posters, perhaps a portable video machine, and literature to distribute. The teach-in goes a step beyond holding signs and distributing literature, because it provides to anyone who listens a more thorough explanation of the facts and even a chance for questions.
9. Other activities. The varieties of public presence for pro-life are limited only by the imagination and willingness of pro-lifers. Countless other peaceful, effective ways exist and can be developed to bring the message to the streets. Groups should "brainstorm" about such events. Brainstorming is different from planning. In planning, the practical limitations of an idea need to be considered. But in brainstorming, one should temporarily forget about what is possible or practical, and let ideas be generated freely and wildly. They can be trimmed down later.
Planning an event is one thing. Getting participation is another. Bringing people into the streets is a challenge, because it requires that participants expand their "comfort zone," that is, the range of activities and circumstances in which they comfortably function. To ask people to come into the streets is to ask them to do something new and, for many people, scary.
The fear can be largely overcome by helping people understand the nature and purpose of these activities. Because of ignorance and media bias, the general public is confused about the true nature of pro-life activism, and very good people may be confusing violent and non-violent activity.
Careful education about the events being planned is necessary. Videos of similar events can help people see for themselves what the event is and what they will be asked to do.
The most effective key to encouraging participation is to invite people. Personal and direct contact is the most effective way. A personal phone call is more effective than a mailing, flier, or newspaper announcement, although these are very necessary as well. Contact with other groups and leaders is with us or not, whether they are persuaded by our presence or not, we have forced them to confront the issue. We have brought abortion to their attention whether they like it or not. That means we win. If people never confront the issue, it will never be settled. If people are not forced to re-think it, then they will remain in ignorance ("I don't know") and denial ("I don't want to know"), and abortion will continue unchallenged. If, however, the public continues to see protest and unrest and many people against abortion, they will have to say, "Why this protesting? What is it that is so wrong? Why do so may people continue to be so disturbed?" If they see the sacrifice we make by enduring heat and cold, rain and snow, loneliness and ridicule over many hours, they will have to ask whether abortion might be worse than they think it is. They may be roused from slumber.
4. We need to go out on the streets because abortion is a local phenomenon. Efforts to petition the government must continue, but abortions do not occur in the Houses of Parliament; they occur down the street from where we live and work and recreate. The killing is taking place in the local community, and the local community must take responsibility to stop the killing. Local residents must register their disapproval, and this is done quite vividly in the streets. We pro-lifers should not so much lose peace over the fact that Bill Clinton is sitting in the White House; we should lose peace over the fact that we are sitting in our houses!
5. Street activity is valuable not only for what it does to the public, but what it does for the pro-lifers themselves. When someone expresses his convictions publicly, those convictions are strengthened inwardly. When someone brings the truth to the public streets or stands in prayer where killing is actually taking place, that person receives a deeper sense of the urgency of the battle and the reality of the problem. Street activities also help to recruit pro-life activists. (See more on this below).
6. Pro-life presence in the streets is more essential than ever. Pro-aborts are not only saying no to life; they are seeking to silence our yes. For example, the official guidelines of BACAOR (an anti-life group in San Francisco) say that they seek to get pro-lifers not only to go away from the door of the abortion mill, but to go away altogether. Efforts such as RICO suits and the FACE bill in U.S.A. unfairly discriminate against pro-life free speech, and the enemy uses them to instil in us a fear of speaking out. They want us to go away. Our response can and must be, "We will not go away!" Now is the time to increase and intensify our activities on the streets, not to back away from them! The best way to defend our rights is to exercise them without fear! This is the moment to show our opponents that we will not be intimidated from speaking up for what is right.
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