ABORTION FOES JOIN TO PROMOTE ‘CIVILITY’

WASHINGTON, January 14, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A pro-life activist and an abortion proponent are joining forces to set an example of “civility.” Fr. Frank Pavone, the head of Priests for Life, has invited longtime pro-abortion counterpart Bill Baird, director of the Pro-Choice League, to spread the message that the abortion debate should be conducted with respect and without violence.  Mr. Baird was defendant in the 1972 Supreme Court case Baird v. Eisenstadt, which struck down a state law prohibiting distribution of contraceptives, according to CNS News. Justice Harry Blackmun later cited Baird as the precedent for Roe v. Wade.  Fr. Pavone says the initiative “doesn’t mean we’re calling for compromise.” Both sides, he says, “work very hard for our respective causes,” but the message is: “Don’t dehumanize people on the other side of the debate, either by violence or by deliberate insult. … I encourage people who picket the abortion clinics to form friendships with the people who work inside and maybe get together for lunch and things like that.”  For CNSNews coverage see:  https://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=%5CCulture%5Carchive%5C200301%5CCUL20030114c.html