Video: Priest displays dead foetus, seeks support for 'anti-abortionist' Trump

Washington: In a controversial and extreme step, a Catholic priest, Rev. Frank Pavone used an aborted foetus during a live video on Facebook, asking people to vote for Donald Trump as America’s next President.

Pavone heads the New York-based Priests for Life and in the video explains that the aborted foetus was entrusted to his organisation for burial.

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The video soon went viral on social media and stirred a heated debate on the Church’s activism against abortion laws in US. In the Facebook video, Pavone placed the dead foetus on an altar on Sunday and said “Today I am doing something rather extaordinary, because here before me, lies a baby, killed by abortion in the second trimester of pregnancy, a baby whose body was entrusted to us for burial… we are going to let this baby’s body bear witness to our nation as we begin the process to elect our next President, our next senate…”

The Priest goes on to urge his supporters to vote for Trump. "We have to decide if we will allow this child killing to continue in America or not. Hillary Clinton and the Democratic platform says yes, let the child-killing continue (and you pay for it); Donald Trump and the Republican platform says no, the child should be protected," he wrote on Facebook.

While Pavone garnered support from some quarters, he also faced a lot of backlash for using a dead foetus to propagate his political agenda instead of burying it. The priest later defended his act and posted a clarification on his Facebook page.

“Apology to my friends, thanks to my supporters, warning to my enemies. Let's talk to each other in sincerity and openness. This is not about me, but about the abortionists, Clinton, and the Democrats. And see these beautiful services we have had for aborted babies, and baptisms of babies saved from abortion,” he wrote.