Earlier this month, abortion activist Gloria Steinem gave a speech at St. Norbert College, which is a Catholic liberal arts school located in Wisconsin. In a press release announcing her visit, the college said Steinem was “known internationally as a key historical figure and founder of the women’s movement who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013 for her lifetime of social justice advocacy.”
However, last year, Bishop David Ricken penned an article in The Compass News, expressing his disapproval of the college’s decision. Steinem is known as an abortion activist and has openly shared her experience with abortion. Additionally, according to the College Fix, a few student groups at St. Norbert tried to get the school to cancel Steinem’s appearance by circulating a petition that drew nearly 28,000 signatures.
One group said, “How on earth can a woman like Gloria Steinem who has such a public pro-abortion and anti-Catholic record be invited to give a lecture at a Catholic institute [sic], which ought to be a cornerstone in the defense of innocent life and moral values?”
As LifeNews previously reported, in a 2011 interview with Abortion Review, she boasted about killing her baby at 22, saying: “…it felt positive.” Steinem elaborated, “It [abortion] is supposed to make us a bad person. But I must say, I never felt that. I used to sit and try and figure out how old the child would be, trying to make myself feel guilty. But I never could! I think the person who said: ‘Honey, if men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament’ was right.”
Then, on another occasion, Steinem boasted about Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion business in America. She said, “There is no organization in this country or the world that is more important than Planned Parenthood.”
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This is why St. Norbert Knights for Life at St. Norbert College invited Feminists for Life President, Serrin Foster, to give a talk at the school. Unfortunately, the college didn’t publicize Foster’s talk until a week before the event though they announced Steinem’s over six-months on advance.
Foster wants to reclaim the pro-life roots of the women’s movement. Contrary to Steinem’s view, “Abortion is a form of domestic violence,” Foster told The College Fix in a phone interview. Her Thursday speech will lay out how “the early feminists condemned abortion in no uncertain terms,” Foster said. “We have a wealth of evidence contradicting the lie that feminists must support abortion.”
The “second wave feminist movement of the 1970s,” in which Steinem was a notable figure, turned “a disgusting and degrading crime” into “the most fundamental right,” Foster said. Her own organization was born as a result of a split among feminists in the runup to Roe v. Wade.
In addition to recounting the history of feminist foremothers, Foster will speak about her group’s efforts on campus to “systematically eliminate the causes that drive women to abortion — primarily, the lack of practical resources and support — through holistic, woman centered solutions.”
‘Not a direct response’ to Steinem’s invitation
Shaun Johnson, campus minister at the college and adviser to its Knights for Life student group, invited Foster to speak in the wake of Steinem’s lecture.
Johnson told The Fix by email that Foster’s invitation was “not a direct response” to Steinem’s appearance, though “the invitation did come as a way to build off of the energy and frustration centering around” the abortion-rights icon’s visit.
In addition to recounting the history of feminist foremothers, Foster will speak about her group’s efforts on campus to “systematically eliminate the causes that drive women to abortion — primarily, the lack of practical resources and support — through holistic, woman centered solutions.”
