FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: September 1, 2016
Contact: Leslie Palma
347-286-7277
Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, will receive the 2016 Freedom Fighter Award Sept. 20 in Michigan during the American Freedom Law Center’s annual dinner.
Father Pavone is also the keynote speaker for the dinner at the Inn at St. John’s in Plymouth, MI. He will share a powerful message about the critical moment we face right now in America regarding religious freedom and in our national elections.
Sharing the Freedom Fighter Award with him will be Lilly Johnson, president of Johnson Welded Products, and Greg Cunningham, executive director of the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (on whose Board of Directors Father Pavone serves).
“Each of these ‘freedom fighters’ has demonstrated exceptional courage in defense of religious freedom and the right to life,” said Robert Muise, co-founder and senior counsel. “We are honored to not only call them our ‘clients,’ but friends and fellow warriors in our fight for faith and freedom.”
Father Pavone said he is deeply honored by the award.
“Those who defend the unborn soon realize that they get treated like the unborn; their rights are also ignored,” he said. “The American Freedom Law Center stands up for our Constitution, however and wherever it is being challenged, so to have them bestow on me the Freedom Fighter Award is very humbling and deeply appreciated.”
The American Freedom Law Center represents Priests for Life in its ongoing challenge to the HHS mandate. Priests for Life vs. HHS was argued in the U.S. Supreme Court on March 23.
In February 2012, Priests for Life was the fourth organization in the nation to file suit against the mandate, which would force employers to be complicit in providing contraceptives, abortifacient drugs and sterilization to their employees. Houses of worship are exempt, but faith-based ministries like Priests for Life were only offered an “accommodation” that is still morally objectionable.
In March, the Supreme Court heard seven consolidated cases in Zubik vs. Burwell, including the Priests for Life case. Rather than issue an opinion, the Court sent the cases back to lower appeals courts with the instruction that the government should try to reach a mutually acceptable agreement with the religious groups. That agreement has not yet been reached.
To reserve tickets for the dinner, go to www.americanfreedomlawcenter.org
Priests for Life is the nation’s largest Catholic pro-life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit www.priestsforlife.org.