The president of a Catholic abortion-rights group said the Catholic Church's opposition to abortion is a reflection of its long-standing fear and hostility towards women and sexuality in a speech Friday night.
Frances Kissling, who has led the Washington D.C.-based group Catholics for Choice since 1982, presented her views in a speech titled "Lost in the Pelvic Zone -- Roman Catholic Opposition to Reproductive Choice."
The speech was part of a weekend-long seminar on "Choosing Choice: Perspectives on Reproductive Freedom."
Kissling, who spoke for an hour to a group of about 20 people in Dartmouth Hall, said the current papacy's thinking is a throwback to the thinking of the 5th century, when at the forefront of Catholic teaching were views such as the sinfulness of pleasure and the denial of one's body as a necessity for having a good soul.
"What we're talking about is the Church's distrust of the capacity of women to make good decisions," Kissling said. She added that the Church does not recognize the personhood that rules women's decisions and consciousness.
The Church's stance in the abortion debate is not based on a true respect for human life, Kissling said. "The Church ... has enormous sympathy for fetal life, but zero sympathy for the female's life."
The view inherent in the Church's teaching -- there are circumstances under which war is justifiable -- clearly doesn't carry over into the abortion issue, Kissling stated.
"If bodily integrity is threatened, you can't have abortion, but if national integrity is threatened, you can go to war," she said. "There is a 'just war' theory, but no 'just abortion' theory."
When asked about the conflict between her strong abortion stance and her religious faith, Kissling responded she considers herself a "Catholic in resistance," working to create justice in the Church. She said that to be a Catholic for free choice is consistent with the core teachings and values of the Catholic Church.
"I believe I am here to create a better world ... by holding positions that make women's lives more dignified and whole," she said.
In addition to Kissling's speech, the seminar included a medical and an ethics panel, both held on Saturday. The event was organized by Students for Choice as an opportunity to get together a variety of perspectives on choice and facilitate discussion between them.
Anna Schecter '98, the president of Students for Choice, said that although she was somewhat disappointed by the faculty turnout, she was "very pleased" with the seminar and felt that the panels provided a lot of information and gave students the opportunity to ask a lot of questions.
Schecter said about Kissling's speech, "I thought it was wonderful ... she talked with students on a very personal level."
