St. Mary's College of Moraga Hosts Abortion Activist

Keynote Speaker Worked With Planned Parenthood/co-founded group that Paid For Abortions


On Saturday, March 3, St. Mary’s College of Moraga hosted the “Wo/men’s Conference 2012.” The event was held at the college’s Soda Activity Center. The event description says, in part: “Our Catholic heritage charges us to ‘defend the goodness, dignity, and freedom of each person, and to foster sensitivity to social and ethical concerns,’ which are principles evident in the mission of Saint Mary's College of California.”

But the keynote speaker for the event gives the lie to any connection with the teaching of the Catholic Church. The keynoter is a writer, lecturer, and “abortion rights advocate” named Amy Richards. She is co-founder of the “Third Wave Foundation.” Her bio on the “Soapbox” website says, in part: “Amy’s leadership and visionary work launched her as a primary spokesperson and leading voice for young feminist issues and for the past fifteen years Amy has assumed that role by lecturing at hundreds of venues, writing books and articles about feminism today, and making numerous media appearances all in an attempt to confirm that younger people are making bold and transformative contributions to their communities.”

Bold indeed. On July 18, 2004, in the New York Times column “When One is Enough” Ms. Richards related to Amy Barrett her justifications for killing two of her three children. When Richards found out she was pregnant with triplets, her response was in equal parts chilling and oblivious:

“My immediate response was, I cannot have triplets. I was not married; I lived in a five-story walk-up in the East Village; I worked freelance; and I would have to go on bed rest in March. I lecture at colleges, and my biggest months are March and April. I would have to give up my main income for the rest of the year. There was a part of me that was sure I could work around that. But it was a matter of, Do I want to…Having felt physically fine up to this point, I got on the subway afterward, and all of a sudden, I felt ill. I didn't want to eat anything. What I was going through seemed like a very unnatural experience. On the subway, Peter asked, ‘Shouldn't we consider having triplets?'' And I had this adverse reaction: ''This is why they say it's the woman's choice, because you think I could just carry triplets. That's easy for you to say, but I'd have to give up my life.’ Not only would I have to be on bed rest at 20 weeks, I wouldn't be able to fly after 15. I was already at eight weeks. When I found out about the triplets, I felt like: It's not the back of a pickup at 16, but now I'm going to have to move to Staten Island. I'll never leave my house because I'll have to care for these children. I'll have to start shopping only at Costco and buying big jars of mayonnaise.”

The organizers co-opting of Catholic teaching to justify the presence of such a speaker is obscene.

On July 28, 2004 the Times decided to run an addendum to their original column, which noted: “The column identified Ms. Richards as a freelancer at the time of her pregnancy but should have also disclosed that she is an abortion rights advocate who has worked with Planned Parenthood, as well as a co-founder of a feminist organization, the Third Wave Foundation, which has financed abortions.”

The Times’ statement that Ms. Richards “worked with Planned Parenthood” can be elaborated. On the “Prostitution” page of procon.org (where Ms. Richards argued that prostitution should be legalized) her “affiliations and institutions” are listed. They include her being a board member of “Choice USA” and serving on the “Council of Advocates” for Planned Parenthood New York City.

The phrase “financed abortions” in the Times addendum refers to the Third Wave Foundation’s “Emergency Abortion Fund.” The Third Wave’s “Emergency Abortion Fund” began in 1998 and was in existence until 2011. Its mission statement reads “Through the Emergency Abortion Fund, we have granted more than $200,000 to over 2,000 people. In order to make best use of our resources and expertise, Third Wave will no longer operate our own abortion fund, but will continue to fund organizations working to ensure reproductive freedom, including access to safe and affordable abortion.”

Other speakers and workshops at the event were benign compared to Ms. Richards—but only in the sense that a tumor can sometimes be considered “benign.” Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan, who represents California’s 15th District, led one workshop. She has a 100% rating from Planned Parenthood, a 100% rating from NARAL, and a 100% rating from Equality California. Another workshop was called “Her, Their, Hir: What Wo/men’s Spaces Mean for Gender Variant Individuals” presented by Mckenzie Mullen, vice-president of the Queer Alliance at the (Jesuit) University of San Francisco.

The conference did include some pro-life and genuine Catholic groups. Representatives from the Gabriel Project, First Resort/Rachel's Vineyard, Bethany Christian Services, and Alpha Pregnancy Center manned tables at the event’s “Opportunities Fair.”

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney