{"id":124420,"date":"2023-03-17T00:02:22","date_gmt":"2023-03-17T04:02:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/?p=124420"},"modified":"2023-03-16T14:51:30","modified_gmt":"2023-03-16T18:51:30","slug":"abortion-doula-slated-to-speak-at-notre-dame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/abortion-doula-slated-to-speak-at-notre-dame\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Abortion doula\u2019 slated to speak at Notre Dame"},"content":{"rendered":"

Notre Dame alumni leader criticizes pro-abortion event<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The gender studies department at the University of Notre Dame, a Catholic University, plans to host an \u201cabortion doula\u201d on March 20.<\/p>\n

The speaker is part of a series<\/a> called \u201cReproductive Justice: Scholarship for Solidarity and Social Change.\u201d<\/p>\n

This specific event is titled \u201cTrans Care + Abortion Care: Intersections and Questions,\u201d and includes the abortion activist, Ash Williams, a self-proclaimed \u201cAbortion Doula,\u201d as a speaker.<\/p>\n

The College Fix<\/em> reached out to Williams via Sister Song Network, where the activist works. The organization has not responded to multiple emailed requests for comment in the past week. She is “a Black trans abortion doula, public intellectual, and abolitionist community organizer from Fayetteville, NC,” according to an event bio<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Fix<\/em> also reached out to Notre Dame\u2019s media relations department and asked whether the university had any issue with an event that promoted views contrary to the Catholic Church. It has not responded to multiple inquiries sent in the past week. The gender studies department did not respond to similar questions.<\/p>\n

The Catechism<\/a>, which lists the teachings of the Catholic Church, explains how the abortion is viewed as a \u201cmoral evil.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion,\u201d the Catechism states. \u201cThis teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law.”<\/p>\n

The leader of an alumni group that seeks to ensure Notre Dame maintains its Catholic identity criticized the event and series in emailed comments to The Fix<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Sycamore Trust President Bill Dempsey told The Fix<\/em> that Notre Dame has given \u201cscandal of the first order through its promotion of abortion through two pro-abortion panels, with more on the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

“This flouting of the commitment of the university to \u2018uphold the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death\u2019 illustrates the fault lines that have opened at Notre Dame in the wake of the Supreme Court\u2019s Dobbs decision turning the abortion issue back to the state legislatures,\u201d Dempsey said.<\/p>\n

MORE:<\/strong> Catholic university denies group for belief in two sexes<\/a><\/p>\n

Dempsey said he believes the gender studies department \u201ctook advantage of the university\u2019s academic freedom policy under which departments are free to sponsor discussions of issues in which panelists may oppose Church teaching.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dempsey said the department \u201cignored the requirement that it not be seen as endorsing such opposition and that it ensures the Church\u2019s voice is not drowned out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The policy in question is called \u201cCommon Proposal of Chairs of the College of Arts and Letters and Fr. Jenkins.”<\/p>\n

\u201cFaculty and departments must explore controversial issues. A university has an obligation to promote the free discussion of issues that are controversial in our society,\u201d according to the policy. \u201cA Catholic university has an added obligation to sponsor academic events that consider controversial issues in the light of Catholic teachings.\u201d<\/p>\n

The policy<\/a> also requires that \u201ctradition should be presented\u201d any time a \u201csignificant issue in the Catholic tradition\u201d is discussed.<\/p>\n

Dempsey criticized other academic units that are complicit in the panel, such as the \u201cHistory, Political Science, English, American Studies, and Sociology,\u201d departments.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn sum, we have a Notre Dame academic unit, with the support of a wide array of departments, promoting an action Pope Francis has condemned in the strongest terms,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Dempsey noted that Pope Francis has compared abortion to \u201chiring a hitman\u201d while the nation\u2019s bishops \u201chave declared abortion the \u2018preeminent\u2019 public issue of our times.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNotre Dame has a strong pro-life community, but the pro-abortion element in the faculty has become ever more aggressive in pressing their opposition to the Church,\u201d Dempsey said.<\/p>\n

MORE:<\/strong> College course calls gender a social construct<\/a><\/p>\n

IMAGE: Notre Dame University<\/p>\n

\n