Historic Freedom Rides To Defend the Right to Life

In 1857, the Supreme Court, in the Dred Scott case, labeled blacks as property, denying them citizenship.  The United States said no to this notion and restored personhood to blacks with the 14th Amendment.  In 1973 the Supreme Court in the Roe v. Wade case again took personhood away from a class of people -- the unborn. 

P>BIRMINGHAM, AL (Priests for Life) - Dr. Alveda King, who is a full-time member of the Pastoral Team of Priests for Life and niece of Martin Luther King, Jr., will be leading "Pro-life Freedom Rides" in the coming months, building on a method that the Civil Rights Movement used effectively forty years ago.

In that movement, thirteen individuals boarded a bus in Washington DC in 1961 and headed for New Orleans. Their intent was to test the enforcement of a Supreme Court decision the previous year that outlawed racial segregation in the restaurants and waiting areas of bus terminals that served interstate travelers.

That one ride led to dozens of others in various parts of the country, with hundreds of people getting involved.

Now, Dr. King and the team of Priests for Life believe it is time for a "Pro-life Freedom Ride," a peaceful, visible expression of the commitment of people around the country to work for freedom for the unborn. The rides will choose cities with strategic significance for the movement.

While pro-life activists ride the buses, all pro-life people nationwide will be invited to participate simultaneously in concrete activities that will call for freedom on various levels: freedom from the lies that permit abortion, freedom from the despair that leads to and follows abortion, freedom from the fear that keeps people from fighting abortion, freedom from the political oppression that robs the unborn of their rights before the law.

* The Freedom Riders of 1961 took their lives in their hands to protest the injustice of segregation. This summer, Priests for Life and its supporters will stage Pro-life Freedom Rides along those various routes. This time we will be speaking up for the lives of the unborn.

* The Freedom Riders took their action to test a Supreme Court ruling that struck down segregation laws. We will ride to protest a ruling by that same court that legalized the murder of a whole class of human beings.

* The Freedom Riders sought to change the culture of racism in the U.S. We seek to transform the culture of death into the culture of life.
 
Join us as we kick off this campaign with a press conference on April 27.
 
WHO:

Dr. Alveda King, Director of African American Outreach for Priests for Life and niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life

Janet Morana, Executive Director of Priests for Life

Dean Nelson, Executive Director of the Network of Politically Active Christians

Rev. Clennard Childress, Director of the Life Education and Resource Network

Rev. Sam Mosteller, Georgia State President, Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Catherine Davis, Director of Minority Outreach, Georgia Right to Life

Rev. Stephen Broden, Senior Pastor, Fair Park Bible Fellowship, Dallas, Texas

Day Gardner, Founder, National Black Prolife Union

Fr. Denis Wilde, Associate Director of Priests for Life

Fr. Peter West, Associate Director of Priests for Life

Fr. Scott William Daniels, Pastoral Associate of Priests for Life

Jim Pinto, Pastoral Associate of Priests for Life

Jerry Horn, Senior Advisor of Priests for Life

Darrian Summerville, Christian recording artist

WHERE:

Kelly Ingram Park
5th Avenue N. at 16th Street
Birmingham, AL
 
WHEN:

April 27, 10:30 am

"My Uncle Martin had a dream that Protestants and Catholics and Gentiles and Jews would join together and sing the age old spiritual 'Free at Last,'" stated Dr. Alveda King.  "At Priests for Life, we will be singing and praying on the Pro-life Freedom Rides.  We urge all people of good will to join us as we link the Civil Rights Movement of the 20th Century to the heart cry for life in the 21st Century."
 
"This gathering of pro-life and civil rights leaders is a unique partnership," said Father Frank Pavone.  "By joining hearts and hands and voices in this way, we can help convince Americans once and for all that abortion is the ultimate violation of human rights."
 
The rides have been endorsed by African-American and pro-life leaders across the country. Catherine Davis of Georgia Right to Life noted, "In 1857, the Supreme Court, in the Dred Scott case, labeled blacks as property, denying them citizenship.  The United States said no to this notion and restored personhood to blacks with the 14th Amendment.  In 1973 the Supreme Court in the Roe v. Wade case again took personhood away from a class of people -- the unborn.  We are riding and calling on all Americans to again reject this notion by restoring the right to life to the unborn."
 
The April 27 press conference will set the stage for the first Pro-life Freedom Ride, set for July 23-25.  National and local pro-life leaders will gather in Birmingham for a major concert and rally - exact location and venue to be announced.  A prayer vigil will take place outside an area abortion mill and then those traveling with the riders will get in the bus for the ride to Atlanta.
 
Join us as we begin this historic undertaking.  Millions of babies are counting on us to ride for their lives.

For more information 

-----

Priests for Life is the nation's largest Catholic pro-life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information.