{"id":213618,"date":"2019-11-07T16:05:34","date_gmt":"2019-11-07T22:05:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=213618"},"modified":"2019-11-07T16:22:44","modified_gmt":"2019-11-07T22:22:44","slug":"female-episcopalian-priest-named-new-head-national-abortion-federation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/female-episcopalian-priest-named-new-head-national-abortion-federation\/","title":{"rendered":"New National Abortion Federation head, a female Episcopal priest, calls abortionists ‘modern-day saints’"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

After serving as the interim president and CEO of the National Abortion Federation since 2018, The Very Reverend Katherine Hancock Ragsdale has now been officially named the group’s new president and CEO. Ragsdale previously served for 17 years on the board for the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, and is a female Episcopalian priest. She is well-known for her support of both abortion<\/a> and LGBT issues.<\/p>\n

The National Abortion Federation released a statement<\/a> announcing her appointment. \u201cWe are pleased to announce that Katherine will be staying at NAF as our President & CEO,\u201d Sue Carlisle, NAF\u2019s Board Chair, said. \u201cIn her short time at NAF, Katherine has demonstrated her unwavering commitment to serving our members and her great vision for the future of NAF, the NAF Hotline Fund, and NAF Canada. After working with her for the last year, it was clear to the Board that the best person for the job was already leading the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

NAF pointed out in their statement that Ragsdale “has preached about how abortion is a blessing” and in the statement, Ragsdale referred to abortionists as her “personal heroes and modern-day saints.”<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Shocker: Episcopal priest brags that she\u2019d break the law to give minors the \u201cblessing\u201d of abortion<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Perhaps most notoriously, Ragsdale testified in 2012<\/a> that she helped a 15-year-old girl get an abortion, and that she would be willing to illegally cross state lines to help other minor children get them as well. This testimony came during a congressional hearing for a bill that would make it illegal to transport minors across state lines to get around parental consent laws. This kind of testimony from Ragsdale is problematic, because it completely ignores how abortion allows young girls to be victimized by rapists and sex traffickers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The organization Ragsdale now leads hardly has a spotless past. Perhaps most notoriously, the NAF was arguably complicit in Kermit Gosnell’s atrocities<\/a>, as Gosnell worked at an NAF facility, and had patients referred to him by the NAF. They also did not report the abhorrent condition<\/a> of his facility, despite the fact that it was reportedly the most disgusting facility the NAF investigator had ever seen.<\/p>\n

The National Abortion Federation is also one of the abortion organizations exposed by the Center for Medical Progress. While the court battle against investigators David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt is ongoing, the NAF dropped multiple charges against them<\/a> last year, leading to speculation that it was to avoid the discovery process during trial. Daleiden himself said that the NAF hoped to get a permanent injunction against his videos<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen whether Ragsdale will overhaul the NAF’s abhorrent practices or allow them to continue, with abortion remaining the priority above all else.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a> for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After serving as the interim president and CEO of the National Abortion Federation since 2018, The Very Reverend Katherine Hancock Ragsdale has now been officially named the group’s new president and CEO. Ragsdale previously served for 17 years on the board for the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, and is a female Episcopalian priest. She […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":213657,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[15,3473],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nNew National Abortion Federation head, a female Episcopal priest, calls abortionists 'modern-day saints'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ragsdale testified in 2012 that she helped a 15-year-old get an abortion, and would illegally cross state lines to help other minors get them as well.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/female-episcopalian-priest-named-new-head-national-abortion-federation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New National Abortion Federation head, a female Episcopal priest, calls abortionists 'modern-day saints'\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ragsdale testified in 2012 that she helped a 15-year-old get an abortion, and would illegally cross state lines to help other minors get them as well.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/female-episcopalian-priest-named-new-head-national-abortion-federation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-11-07T22:05:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-11-07T22:22:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/GettyImages-133205978-ragsdale.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1197\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cassy Cooke\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cassy Cooke\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/female-episcopalian-priest-named-new-head-national-abortion-federation\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/female-episcopalian-priest-named-new-head-national-abortion-federation\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cassy Cooke\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/16622da192101346f516b7444d125392\"},\"headline\":\"New National Abortion Federation head, a female Episcopal priest, calls abortionists ‘modern-day saints’\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-11-07T22:05:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-11-07T22:22:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/female-episcopalian-priest-named-new-head-national-abortion-federation\/\"},\"wordCount\":477,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Analysis\",\"Newsbreak\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/female-episcopalian-priest-named-new-head-national-abortion-federation\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/female-episcopalian-priest-named-new-head-national-abortion-federation\/\",\"name\":\"New National Abortion Federation head, a female Episcopal priest, calls abortionists 'modern-day saints'\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-11-07T22:05:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-11-07T22:22:44+00:00\",\"description\":\"Ragsdale testified in 2012 that she helped a 15-year-old get an abortion, and would illegally cross state lines to help other minors get them as well.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/female-episcopalian-priest-named-new-head-national-abortion-federation\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/female-episcopalian-priest-named-new-head-national-abortion-federation\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/female-episcopalian-priest-named-new-head-national-abortion-federation\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New National Abortion Federation head, a female Episcopal priest, calls abortionists ‘modern-day saints’\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/16622da192101346f516b7444d125392\",\"name\":\"Cassy Cooke\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b602f8210f1a7d948ca1c0dcab11fad?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b602f8210f1a7d948ca1c0dcab11fad?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Cassy Cooke\"},\"description\":\"Cassy has over 20 years of experience as a writer and editor, most of which have been spent covering pro-life issues like abortion, disability rights, euthanasia, and more.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/cassy-fiano\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New National Abortion Federation head, a female Episcopal priest, calls abortionists 'modern-day saints'","description":"Ragsdale testified in 2012 that she helped a 15-year-old get an abortion, and would illegally cross state lines to help other minors get them as well.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/female-episcopalian-priest-named-new-head-national-abortion-federation\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New National Abortion Federation head, a female Episcopal priest, calls abortionists 'modern-day saints'","og_description":"Ragsdale testified in 2012 that she helped a 15-year-old get an abortion, and would illegally cross state lines to help other minors get them as well.","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/female-episcopalian-priest-named-new-head-national-abortion-federation\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2019-11-07T22:05:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-11-07T22:22:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1197,"height":650,"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/GettyImages-133205978-ragsdale.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cassy Cooke","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cassy Cooke","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/female-episcopalian-priest-named-new-head-national-abortion-federation\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/female-episcopalian-priest-named-new-head-national-abortion-federation\/"},"author":{"name":"Cassy Cooke","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/16622da192101346f516b7444d125392"},"headline":"New National Abortion Federation head, a female Episcopal priest, calls abortionists ‘modern-day saints’","datePublished":"2019-11-07T22:05:34+00:00","dateModified":"2019-11-07T22:22:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/female-episcopalian-priest-named-new-head-national-abortion-federation\/"},"wordCount":477,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Analysis","Newsbreak"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/female-episcopalian-priest-named-new-head-national-abortion-federation\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/female-episcopalian-priest-named-new-head-national-abortion-federation\/","name":"New National Abortion Federation head, a female Episcopal priest, calls abortionists 'modern-day saints'","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-11-07T22:05:34+00:00","dateModified":"2019-11-07T22:22:44+00:00","description":"Ragsdale testified in 2012 that she helped a 15-year-old get an abortion, and would illegally cross state lines to help other minors get them as well.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/female-episcopalian-priest-named-new-head-national-abortion-federation\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/female-episcopalian-priest-named-new-head-national-abortion-federation\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/female-episcopalian-priest-named-new-head-national-abortion-federation\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New National Abortion Federation head, a female Episcopal priest, calls abortionists ‘modern-day saints’"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/16622da192101346f516b7444d125392","name":"Cassy Cooke","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b602f8210f1a7d948ca1c0dcab11fad?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b602f8210f1a7d948ca1c0dcab11fad?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Cassy Cooke"},"description":"Cassy has over 20 years of experience as a writer and editor, most of which have been spent covering pro-life issues like abortion, disability rights, euthanasia, and more.","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/cassy-fiano\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213618"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213618"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":213656,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213618\/revisions\/213656"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}