- Well, Father Frank Pavoneis a pro-life activist

and the National Directorof Priests for Life.

He joins us now with more.

Father Frank, welcome to the show.

- Hi Wendy, good to bewith you and your viewers.

- Yeah, good to see you again.

Well, this is pretty bignews coming out of Georgia.

We want your reaction.

- Well it is, and you know,we were there in the room,

the Priests for Life,

that is represented byour full time associate,

Alveda King, niece ofMartin Luther King Jr.

and that in and of itself,

tells us a lot about what happened today.

You know, we refer to these, very often,

as restrictive laws, as bans.

But, Alveda's presence, therewith the Governor today,

reminds us.

No, this is about civil rights.

The civil rights of the youngest among us,

the children in the womb.

And, you know, the day after Roe v. Wade,

the headlines said, SupremeCourt Settles Abortion.

And, as the developmentsand the bill signings

and the protests on the streetsand the counter-protests,

all testify,

this remains the most unsettledissue in American life.

And what's happening today is showing us,

we're moving in the direction,

of the greater protection of these babies.

- Well, other states,Mississippi, Kentucky and Ohio,

have the same law thatGeorgia just passed.

Do you think even more states will follow?

- Well, what's happening here is we have

several different kindsof pro-life legislation.

Now, some of these, billsthat are becoming law,

in fact, what are becominglaw more frequently,

are the ones that havemore limited protection,

but at the same time morelikelihood of both passing

and being upheld in the courts.

And those, for example, arethe protection of babies

from dismemberment abortion,

which your talking about thesecond trimester and forward.

Protection of pain capablechildren from abortion

from 20 weeks forward.

We see a lot of activity there.

But the presence also of these bills,

I believe is going to increase.

And it's more of an in yourface challenge, if you will,

to what Roe v. Wade allows,

is abortion without any restriction.

And the mood this morning, in Georgia,

when the Governor signedthis bill, was, yes,

we know it's gonna be challenged in court,

but you know what?

Bring it on!

Because we're doing what's right here

and we're doing what more and more people

are convinced is right.

We're talking about a beating heart

and the existence of a beating heart,

which starts beating only21 days after conception.

It really brings home to people that,

yeah, this baby is one of us.

Not just an embryo or a fetus.

It's not just a blob of tissue.

This is a human beingwith a beating heart.

So, yes, there are gonna be more,

more states taking upthis kind of legislation.

- Well, Father Frank,

you already know the A.C.L.U. of Georgia

says this new law is unconstitutional.

No surprise there.

They'll challenge it in court.

How do you thing they'll do?

Do they have a case?

- Well, you know, it begsthe question, doesn't it?

I mean of course, youknow, restricting abortion,

especially in these earlystages, is unconstitutional

if you think that Roe v.Wade equals the Constitution.

But, that's the whole point.

Even longstanding precedencecan be overturned.

Especially, if that precedent,

in this case Roe v. Wade and its progeny,

is facing a sustained anintense public criticism.

And whether it's in thestates; or, whether it's by

federal judges in other cases,who are criticizing Roe,

or whether it's on thestreets or even in the media

with powerful pro-life movies coming out,

we have seen no Supreme Court decision

face more sustained andsevere public criticism,

than Roe v. Wade.

So, I am of the mind that, yes,

courts are very likelyto strike this down,

but that's not the end of the story.

Appeals are going to be made.

And, as I say, more andmore federal judges,

if this gets into the federal system,

are very critical of Roe v. Wade

and it is time to reexaminethat whole decision.

- Well, Father Frank Pavone,

we'll have to leave it right there.

Thanks so much for sharingyour insights on this good day.

God bless you.

- God bless you, Wendy.