{"id":307048,"date":"2024-02-15T08:45:43","date_gmt":"2024-02-15T14:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=307048"},"modified":"2024-02-14T09:42:28","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T15:42:28","slug":"catholics-for-choice-pro-abortion-speaker-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/catholics-for-choice-pro-abortion-speaker-college\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Catholics for Choice’ group sends pro-abortion speaker to Catholic college"},"content":{"rendered":"
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On Wednesday, February 7th, <\/span>St. Mary\u2019s College<\/span><\/a> hosted a lecture on \u201creproductive justice.\u201d The speaker was a member of Catholics for Choice, a pro-abortion group that also claims to be Catholic. The talk was entitled, <\/span>\u201c<\/span>Structural Change for Reproductive Justice: Insights from Catholic Feminism<\/span><\/a>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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 <\/span>Humanae Vitae<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

In section fourteen, Humane Vitae explains, \u201cTherefore, 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Lisa Knox<\/span><\/a>, 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

Benjamin Ice, a Students for Life leader in the midwest, believes the logic of <\/span>Catholics for Choice<\/span><\/a> in promoting abortion is incorrect, so he and a group of other students went up to St. Marys to protest the talk.\u00a0<\/span>He explained, \u201cWe got a bunch of people from Notre Dame and St. Marys to pray 15 decades of the rosary outside the talk.\u201d In the Catholic tradition, a \u201c15 decade rosary\u201d encompasses all of the mysteries of the rosary, or elements of Jesus\u2019 life. Ice emphasized that they were doing this in protest to what was being taught inside St. Mary\u2019s college that evening.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ice told Live Action News that Catholics for Choice \u201cmakes the argument that abortion is a necessary evil because there\u2019s not enough resources [to help women in need],\u201d despite the fact that there are nearly 3,000 <\/span>pregnancy resource centers that stand ready to help families<\/span><\/a> \u2013 centers which abortion allies generally oppose.<\/span><\/p>\n

Catherine O\u2019Neill, a staff member at Students for Life of America and also a St. Mary\u2019s College Alumna, attended the talk. She explained, \u201cI was made aware of the event because of a concerned supporter\/alumni group that came to me because of [a] <\/span>recent transgender decision<\/span><\/a> [at St. Mary’s College]\u2026 I started to do a bit of a deep-dive myself to see what she\u2019s talking about.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill said that she found that the woman giving the talk, Emily Reimer-Barry<\/a>, was a \u201cself-proclaimed feminist and theologian who\u2019s okay with abortion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Her main takeaway was that the talk itself was very vague. \u201cThe talk buried you in every social evil that exists,\u201d O\u2019Neill said.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

She failed to mention that abortion is the leading cause of death among children and instead claimed that \u201c[g]uns are the leading cause of death among children and teens.\u201d In just the first ten months of 2023, there were an estimated <\/span>878,000 abortions<\/span><\/a> committed<\/span><\/a> in the U.S., as opposed to <\/span>276 children<\/span><\/a> who were killed by gun violence.<\/span><\/p>\n

In regards to making the decision of whether or not to have an abortion, Barry claimed that, \u201cIf pregnant women could depend on practical support\u2026 this would radically reshape the discernment of pregnant women.\u201d 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.<\/span><\/p>\n