An ad in the Pittsburgh Catholic that criticized single-issue voting has sparked a flurry of opposing ads from groups that say that abortion takes priority over other social problems.

The five ads range from a full-page endorsement of President Bush by LIFEPAC to a 3-by-5-inch proclamation that "abortion does matter" from a New Castle physician. These ads, which take issue with one that the Catholic peace group Pax Christi ran, are in addition to ads for four statewide candidates and two paid voter guides. They are scheduled to appear Friday.

"We are SCANDALIZED that many Catholics, including local priests and religious, have joined with Pax Christi USA in what we believe is their veiled, back door endorsement of an adamant pro-abortion candidate for the presidency," said the draft of an ad from Catholics United for Integrity in Voting.

"While every single human life is sacred, the number of human lives lost through capital punishment and the Iraqi War don't even begin to approach the millions of lives taken by abortion in the same time period."

Dr. Daniel Callaghan, of New Castle, bought an ad in reaction to a front-page Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story about the Pax Christi ad. The Pax Christi ad did not endorse a candidate, but described abortion as one of many problems that Catholics should consider when voting.

"I just feel somebody has to speak up for the unborn," said Callaghan.

He wanted to take out a large ad, but was told there was room only for a small one, Callaghan said. He countered the argument that Catholic womb-to-tomb social concern allows other issues to trump opposition to abortion.

"Because of abortion, 44 million unborn American girls and boys went directly from the womb to their tomb," his ad says. It does not endorse a candidate.

The LIFEPAC ad argues that five issues are non-negotiable for Catholics: opposition to abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, human cloning and homosexual marriage.

"The only major party candidate for president of the United States that meets the above five non-negotiable issues is George W. Bush," it says.

The ad was proposed Saturday at a banquet sponsored by the Pennsylvania Foundation for Life and People Concerned for the Unborn Child, said Helen Cindrich, executive director of the People Concerned group. About 150 diners gave most of the $3,500 for a full page, she said. .

Unlike the Pax Christi ad, which had hundreds of signatures, including about 50 priests, none of these collected signatures.

"It would have taken time," said Cindrich, adding that LIFEPAC barely made the Pittsburgh Catholic's deadline as it was.

The ad wars have been a boon for the newspaper.

"Financially, it's been a great assistance to our apostolate," said Robert Lockwood, communications director of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.

Although some candidates always advertise in the diocesan newspaper, this spate of issue-oriented ads is unusual, he said. The newspaper accepts partisan ads if they don't attack the opposing candidate or the teachings of the Catholic Church.

"We believe that this is for the informational purposes of our readers," he said.