It is the best of times and the worst of times for the pro-life movement. Though the historic Dobbs decision was a great legal victory, the cause for life continues. And it continues in both states that have severely limited abortion and those that have made it a kind of untouchable secular sacrament.
The Supreme Court’s historic 2022 Dobbs decision reversing Roe v. Wade was a great victory for the cause of life. The 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that Dobbs reversed theoretically allowed limits to legalized abortion, but its ruling that the so-called right to abortion had an American Constitutional guarantee made state and local attempts to curb the practice very difficult to sustain in legal terms.
Since Dobbs, different states have taken different turns. Texas, where I moved to in 2022, has a Heartbeat Bill that includes criminal penalties for those who perform or aid in abortions (not the mothers). Minnesota, the state I moved from, has joined other Democrat-run states in going the other direction. The Minnesota legislative session this year included a fundamental right to abortion, removal of a 24-hour waiting period for abortions (though a judge had struck it down last fall), the cutting of funding from crisis pregnancy centers that encourage women not to abort, and even the removal of requirements that doctors attempt to save the life of a child who is born alive.
It is the best of times and the worst of times for the pro-life movement.
In short, though Dobbs was a great legal victory, the cause for life continues. And it continues in both states that have severely limited abortion and those that have made it a kind of untouchable secular sacrament. That is why I was pleased to be back in Minnesota at the beginning of this month to attend the 33rd annual meeting of the University Faculty for Life (UFFL) held at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. It was hosted by the philosophy department, where UFFL president Mary Lemmons is a professor, and the St. Thomas School of Law’s Pro-Life Center, directed by well-known pro-life legal scholar Professor Teresa Collett.
The UFFL was founded in 1989 by a number of pro-life scholars including Fr. Thomas King and Fr. Robert Spitzer (both Jesuits) who saw the need for an organization that would bring together scholars dedicated to the cause of life from different disciplines. While being truly pro-life obviously involves many different causes, UFFL centers its mission on three main topics: abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia.
In 1990 the organization began publishing a quarterly newsletter called Pro Vita (“On Behalf of Life”). By 1991 the organization had begun their annual conference, “Life and Learning,” the proceedings of which have been published annually and are almost all available now at the website. Readers can see from a brief survey that the conference proceedings come from law, politics, medicine, history, economics, natural and social sciences, philosophy, theology, education, literature, and film.
That was true this year. Canadian historian Keith Cassidy, a board member for the organization, detailed how the various historical guilds have effectively silenced academic scholarship that supports pro-life claims by a variety of means. Economist John Pisciotta looked at the political prospects of the pro-life movement through the lens of Median Voter Theory. Other scholars looked at the healthcare policy strategies necessary to support women and babies in both states that have curbed abortion and those that have made it legally untouchable. Philosopher David Hershenov of SUNY Buffalo examined the various analogies to abortion that are made by abortion advocates and offered some better analogies that pro-life advocates can use when talking to the other side. Venerable pro-life scholar Richard Stith highlighted aspects of the Dobbs ruling that would be helpful for scholars in other countries to use in their own fights for life.
While some sessions included diverse topics, others were more focused. Scholars in one panel examined St. John Paul II’s theological and philosophical principles, which remain pertinent and useful. In another panel, medical experts including Marquette University Nursing Professor Richard Fehring, this year’s winner of the Rupert and Timothy Smith Award for distinguished pro-life scholarship, presented papers on how teaching the Marquette Model of Natural Family Planning can help build what St. John Paul II called “a culture of life.”
Several of the panel discussions that included less formal presentations and more discussion were very helpful as well. The aforementioned Professor Cassidy participated in one with Professor Collett, Regent University family law scholar Lynne Kohm, and Minnesota Catholic Conference executive director Jason Adkins on how the academy can help the cause of life. I learned a great deal from a panel (of which I was part) on how to teach life issues. Having scholars from law, philosophy, theology, and literature, some from secular and some from religious institutions, talk about their experiences with students with a wide variety of views helped me think about my own task. Many people attended a debut reading of literary scholar and playwright Bernadette Waterman Ward’s new play, “Upon the Children.”
The keynote talks were mostly geared toward looking at the big picture. Long-time advocate Richard Doerflinger, who for many years served as Associate Director of the United States Catholic Bishops’ Pro-Life Secretariate, and attorney Clarke Forsythe, the president of Americans United for Life, both examined the contemporary landscape in terms of politics, legislation, policy, and media. Dr. Donna Harrison of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists looked at what is and is not actually abortion, a very important topic in states where abortion has been limited and pro-abortion advocates often say that very different medical procedures are also banned because of current laws.
As a personal matter, I’m happy to return to St. Paul for the 34th annual conference, which will again be hosted at Minnesota’s University of St. Thomas. As a professional and spiritual matter, I’m very glad to come back for the resources, the fellowship, and the witness that UFFL has provided. Many of the faculty members who have contributed to the organization have paid a price for their witness to life in academic and professional life—a price that includes not getting positions, awards, promotions—because of their pro-life work. While such a penalty is disappointing, the atmosphere at UFFL has always been a joyful one because the cause of a culture of life is well worth the cost.
Republished with gracious permission from The Catholic Servant.
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The featured image is “Mor og børn på udflugt til stranden” (1885) by Erik Henningsen, and is in the public domain, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.