That may be the case in the Evangelical community, but I don't think it's the case in the Catholic pro life community. I also know a (Catholic) woman who's received awards from Bevilacqua. She was involved with the Archdiocesan sanctioned Pennsylvanians for Human Life. They go into Catholic Schools and give pro life talks. My wife has been a member of them for many years. But they don't want to rock the boat, ever. They wring their hands and say what can we do? Many of their children still go to colleges like Notre Dame, Boston College and Georgetown. It's true many pro life Catholics in the pews were turned off, as was the public at large, but by and large, these folks were not the people manning the crisis pregnancy centers, or carrying signs outside the killing centers. In my experience the Catholics in the trenches largely supported the rescue movement mostly because it was the only game in town.
During the rescue years, Bevilacqua chose his pro life public actions very carefully, and even he did once visit the pregnant wife of a rescuer who was in jail. But he also did NOTHING about the pro abort "Catholic" college campuses or pastors in Philadelphia. Under his watch and at the height of the rescue movement, the Archdiocese was happy to hand out voters guides with issues like "equal healthcare access for all" plastered right next to abortion. The Archdiocesan Respect Life Office still includes the ministry to the crippled and disenfranchised.
I'm not saying I agreed completely with how OR expended its resources, but at least they were doing something. And you could hear the crickets before you could hear a sermon that denounced abortion in a Catholic Church. I know that many evangelical pastors are much better at denouncing evil from the pulpit.
Can we find a middle ground behind what Bevilacqua did or didn't do, and what OR did?
behind = between
I can't think of a single Catholic person I know inside or outside the movement who supported them, save one, who after almost having her life destroyed, left OR and the movement entirely.