Pro-Life Advocate Still Mulling Options for Susan B. Anthony House

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jan 15, 2007   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Pro-Life Advocate Still Mulling Options for Susan B. Anthony House Email this article
Printer friendly page

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
January 15
, 2007

Adams, MA (LifeNews.com) — A leading pro-life advocate who purchased the historic birthplace of women’s rights advocate Susan B. Anthony is still mulling several options for the use of the home. Those could include a museum or even turning the home into a pregnancy center for young women in crisis situations.

Linda and James McConchie purchased the home in 1998 with the intention of turning it into a museum but they were unable to complete the project.

Carol Crossed, a longtime New York pro-life advocate who has been an activists with Feminists for Life of America and Democrats for Life, told a local newspaper about the possible plans.

"We have a number of feasibility studies we are currently involved in to determine the future use of the house," she told the Transcript newspaper.

Crossed purchased the two-story, 1,566-square foot home at auction last August and she said that one option is to turn the house into a textile museum because the local area in Adams developed around several local mills.

However, turning the house into a maternity home may be a more likely option as Crossed and Feminists for Life are very involved in making sure young women have their pregnancy needs met so abortion isn’t seen as the best solution.

"Susan B. Anthony was very concerned that women have all of their needs met when they were pregnant," Crossed told the newspaper. "This option could help facilitate those needs."

Another idea is turning the home into a retreat center that could also house a bed and breakfast.

Cross told the Transcript that Feminists for Life would be incorporating some of its own ideas into the home to promote Anthony’s legacy, especially her pro-life views as they are routinely left out of information about her from pro-abortion groups.

Anthony referred to abortion as "child murder" in her publication The Revolution and she refused to accept advertisements for drugs that would cause an abortion.

She also foresaw the problems women who had abortions would face, saying abortion would "burden her conscience in life."

"There’s definitely going to be a pro-life aspect to this house," Crossed said. "It will be a minor part, a small part but it will not be excluded from what this house becomes."

In the meantime, Crossed told the newspaper she is working to maintain the house because it suffered from a roof collapse in November as a result of rain.

Feminists for Life previously praised Crossed for the purchase.

“Susan B. Anthony challenged us to address the root causes that drive women to abortion—the same problems that face women who parent today,” FFL president Serrin Foster said. “We are thrilled and grateful that Carol Crossed stepped forward to buy Susan B. Anthony’s birthplace."

Foster said Crossed’s purchase of the Anthony home will “keep the memory of Susan B. Anthony alive, and giving birth to a new legacy. We hope that this purchase will renew interest in the early American feminists.”

Susan B. Anthony was born in the Adams, Massachusetts home in 1820.

Related web sites:
Feminists for Life of America – https://www.feministsforlife.org