Contact:  Margaret Sciarrino, 888-735-3448 ext 251; Leslie Palma, 732-757-9087; Priests for Life 

BIRMINGHAM, April 27 /Christian Newswire/ -- Civil rights and pro-life leaders will join this morning for a press conference at 10:30 am at Kelly Ingram Park to announce a series of Pro-Life Freedom Rides to start this summer.

Dr. Alveda King, Director of African American Outreach for Priests for Life and niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, will be among those speaking today on a new project that drives home the point that at the heart of civil rights is the right to life. 

"The civil rights movement and the pro-life movement are really one movement," declared Fr. Pavone.  "It is the movement that stands up every time human life and dignity are cast down; it is the movement that cries out for equal protection when some are denied their most basic rights."

This summer's Freedom Rides are named after the historic efforts of those who rode buses in 1961 to advance desegregation.  Details of the project, which is backed by over 40 Birmingham area pastors, civil rights leaders, and pro-life activists, will be revealed at today's 10:30 am press conference taking place at 5th Avenue North and 16th Street in Kelly Ingram Park.  See also www.ProLifeFreedomRides.com.

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.