On Wednesday, February 7th, St. Mary’s College hosted a lecture on “reproductive justice.” The speaker was a member of Catholics for Choice, a pro-abortion group that also claims to be Catholic. The talk was entitled, “Structural Change for Reproductive Justice: Insights from Catholic Feminism.”
Students and pro-life groups protested, saying that a Catholic speaker should never advocate for abortion, as abortion is directly contrary to Catholic teaching, as stated in the Catechism and Humanae Vitae.
In section fourteen, Humane Vitae explains, “Therefore, we base our words on the first principles of a human and Christian doctrine of marriage when we are obliged once more to declare that the direct interruption of the generative process already begun and, above all, all direct abortion, even for therapeutic reasons, are to be absolutely excluded as lawful means of regulating the number of children.”
Lisa Knox, the public relations director for Saint Mary’s College, said in response to protests that’s it’s not unusual for Catholic colleges to have academic lectures that invite students to consider complex social issues through a Catholic moral lens. However, as stated above, regarding abortion as a net good is not consistent with any Catholic teaching.
Benjamin Ice, a Students for Life leader in the midwest, believes the logic of Catholics for Choice in promoting abortion is incorrect, so he and a group of other students went up to St. Marys to protest the talk. He explained, “We got a bunch of people from Notre Dame and St. Marys to pray 15 decades of the rosary outside the talk.” In the Catholic tradition, a “15 decade rosary” encompasses all of the mysteries of the rosary, or elements of Jesus’ life. Ice emphasized that they were doing this in protest to what was being taught inside St. Mary’s college that evening.
Ice told Live Action News that Catholics for Choice “makes the argument that abortion is a necessary evil because there’s not enough resources [to help women in need],” despite the fact that there are nearly 3,000 pregnancy resource centers that stand ready to help families – centers which abortion allies generally oppose.
Catherine O’Neill, a staff member at Students for Life of America and also a St. Mary’s College Alumna, attended the talk. She explained, “I was made aware of the event because of a concerned supporter/alumni group that came to me because of [a] recent transgender decision [at St. Mary’s College]… I started to do a bit of a deep-dive myself to see what she’s talking about.”
O’Neill said that she found that the woman giving the talk, Emily Reimer-Barry, was a “self-proclaimed feminist and theologian who’s okay with abortion.”
Her main takeaway was that the talk itself was very vague. “The talk buried you in every social evil that exists,” O’Neill said.
In the main segment of her talk, Barry discussed a long list of problems with the American foster care system, systemic racism, gun violence, and educational disadvantage, only to lead this all back to the claim that abortion is a necessary evil in our society.
She failed to mention that abortion is the leading cause of death among children and instead claimed that “[g]uns are the leading cause of death among children and teens.” In just the first ten months of 2023, there were an estimated 878,000 abortions committed in the U.S., as opposed to 276 children who were killed by gun violence.
In regards to making the decision of whether or not to have an abortion, Barry claimed that, “If pregnant women could depend on practical support… this would radically reshape the discernment of pregnant women.” She went on to list many societal changes she believes could help women, such as better pay for women, better childcare, etc. However, she failed to note that going without these in our society never justifies abortion. Abortion is the intentional and direct killing of a preborn human being, and killing is never an appropriate way to solve societal problems.
When Barry took questions, O’Neill explained that, “The only pro-life question she took was [from] a woman from the diocese of South Bend [who] has worked with numerous women from Project Rachel,” an organization for women seeking help and healing after abortion. The woman asked how one can say that abortion is a net good, when women have had so many different experiences.
The woman asking the question explained, “One of the things that further convinced me about the harms of abortion to women was the mental health harms,” and therefore she is convinced that “abortion can not be the solution to the crises you laid out.” However, regardless of whether abortion affects women in a perceived positive or negative way, it is known that abortion intentionally kills a living, defenseless human being in the womb. It therefore cannot be a moral good even if someone feels positively about it.
In response to the question, Barry didn’t discourage women from getting an abortion, but instead encouraged churches to affirm women who have had abortions by offering “liturgical expressions of solidarity and support.” She attributed the mental health issues among post-abortive women to “a kind of isolation within church spaces” — however, it is certainly not just women in churches who experience abortion regret. Women and men without religious affiliations also seek out abortion healing. Isolation within churches most certainly does not explain abortion regret. In fact, it is often through churches or parachurch ministries that many women finally find healing from abortion through post-abortive Bible studies or other programs.
Lastly, O’Neill highlighted the fact that Barry “failed to ever mention men in the equation – good fathers, good husbands.” Additionally, she insisted that “Every single woman is impoverished and homeless.” Marriage has long been cited as an important factor that can help prevent the poverty of a single-mother household — and therefore, the presence of a husband and father in a household matters.
Ultimately, the talk went on with little backlash, despite the students gathered for prayer and protest outside.
