Contact: Jerry Horn, Priests for Life, 540-220-0095

WASHINGTON, July 26 /Christian Newswire/ -- Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life and President of the National Pro-Life Religious Council, released the following statement today:

"The Birmingham News carried a story yesterday wherein some local pastors said that pro-life activists who held events on public sidewalks near their Churches 'did not have permission' to hold the events.

"Excuse me, pastors, but they don't need your permission.

"In America, the public sidewalks are a forum in which any citizen can communicate to any other citizen what is on his or her mind.  The 'permission' has been granted by our Founding Fathers and it's called the First Amendment to the Constitution.

"This permission holds even when the public sidewalk happens to be in front of a Church.  Every pastor in every denomination has a duty to understand this clearly and to respect the rights of every citizen to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly."

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.