Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States generally protected a right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many abortion laws, and caused an ongoing abortion debate in the United States about whether, or to what extent, abortion should be legal, who should decide the legality of abortion, and what the role of moral and religious views in the political sphere should be. The decision also shaped debate concerning which methods the Supreme Court should use in constitutional adjudication. The Supreme Court reversed the Roe decision in June 2022, ending the constitutional right to abortion.
Robert Frederick Drinan was a Jesuit priest, lawyer, human rights activist, and Democratic U.S. Representative from Massachusetts. Drinan left office to obey Pope John Paul II's prohibition on political activity by priests.
The consistent life ethic (CLE), also known as the consistent ethic of life or whole life ethic, is an ideology that opposes abortion, capital punishment, assisted suicide, and euthanasia. Adherents oppose war, or at the very least unjust war; some adherents go as far as full pacifism and so oppose all war. Many authors have understood the ethic to be relevant to a broad variety of areas of public policy as well as social justice issues. The term was popularized in 1983 by the Catholic prelate Joseph Bernardin in the United States to express an ideology based on the premise that all human life is sacred and should be protected by law. While there are many adherents, CLE is not exclusively but primarily a Catholic doctrine and/or associated with the Catholic Church.
The Cardinal Newman Society is an American 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, nonprofit organization founded in 1993 whose stated purpose is to promote and defend faithful Catholic education. The organization is guided by Cardinal John Henry Newman's The Idea of a University and Pope John Paul II's 1990 Apostolic Constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae. The organization publishes The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College. However, it has been criticized for adopting views that Newman would have opposed.
Thomas J. Reese, is an American Catholic Jesuit priest, author, and journalist. He is a senior analyst at Religion News Service, a former columnist at National Catholic Reporter, and a former editor-in-chief of the weekly Catholic magazine America.
Catholics for Choice (CFC) is a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. that represents Catholic people who support reproductive freedom and advocates for abortion rights, Formed in 1973 as Catholics for a Free Choice, the group gained notice after its 1984 advertisement in The New York Times challenging Church teachings on abortion led to Church disciplinary pressure against some of the priests and nuns who signed it. It has lobbied nationally and internationally for abortion rights goals and led an unsuccessful effort to downgrade the Holy See's status in the United Nations. CFC was led for 25 years by Frances Kissling and is currently led by its President Jamie L. Manson.
Leo Jeremiah O'Donovan III is an American Catholic priest, Jesuit, and theologian who served as the president of Georgetown University from 1989 to 2001. Born in New York City, he graduated from Georgetown, and while studying in France, decided to enter the Society of Jesus. He went on to receive advanced degrees from Fordham University and Woodstock College, and received his doctorate in theology from the University of Münster, where he studied under Karl Rahner. Upon returning to the United States, he became a professor at Woodstock College and the Weston Jesuit School of Theology, before becoming the president of the Catholic Theological Society of America and a senior administrator in the Jesuit Maryland Province.
Gonzales v. Carhart, 550 U.S. 124 (2007), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that upheld the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. The case reached the high court after U.S. Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, appealed a ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in favor of LeRoy Carhart that struck down the Act. Also before the Supreme Court was the consolidated appeal of Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, whose ruling had the same effect as that of the Eighth Circuit.
James J. Martin is an American Jesuit Catholic priest, writer, editor-at-large of the Jesuit magazine America and the founder of Outreach.
Monroe Catholic High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school in Fairbanks, Alaska. It is the only Catholic high school in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fairbanks. It is the northernmost Roman Catholic high school in the Americas.
Scott R. Pilarz was an American Jesuit priest and academic. He served two stints as president of the University of Scranton, first from 2003 to 2011 and again from 2018 until 2021. Pilarz was announced as the successor of Kevin Quinn on March 21, 2017, serving until his death in 2021. Prior to returning to Scranton, Pilarz served as the president of Marquette University and Georgetown Prep.
Students for Life of America (SFLA), also known as simply Students for Life (SFL), is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, anti-abortion organization that has formed groups of high school and college students across the country. Currently, there are over 2,000 SFL student groups across the nation. Since 2006, more than 160,000 anti-abortion activists have completed SFLA training.
William Stephen Skylstad is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Spokane in Washington State from 1990 to 2010. He previously served as the bishop of the Diocese of Yakima in Washington State from 1977 to 1990.
Blase Joseph Cupich is an American prelate of the Catholic Church, a cardinal who serves as archbishop of the Latin Church Archdiocese of Chicago.
Michael Eric Engh is an American Jesuit priest, academic and historian. He was the 28th President of Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California from January 5, 2009 to June 30, 2019.
Robert J. Spitzer is a Jesuit priest, philosopher, educator, author, speaker, and retired President of Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington.
Abby Johnson is an American anti-abortion activist who previously worked at Planned Parenthood as a clinic director, but resigned in October 2009. She states that she resigned after watching an abortion on ultrasound. The veracity of her account and the details and motivation for her conversion have been challenged by investigative reporters, as medical records contradict some of her claims.
Fr. Kenneth Baker, S.J. is a Roman Catholic priest in the Society of Jesus. Besides his pastoral duties as a priest he has served as a professor of theology and a university president. He has also worked to bring the message of the Roman Catholic Church into more forms of communication media, most notably as editor-in-chief in the magazine the Homiletic and Pastoral Review which has been called "one of the most important magazines for priests in the English speaking world".
Lee Minto is an American women's health activist and sex education advocate. She served as Executive Director of the Seattle-King County chapter of Planned Parenthood for 27 years, and was instrumental in Washington State Referendum 20, a referendum in 1970 that successfully legalized early pregnancy abortion in the state of Washington.
Kevin Fleming O'Brien, SJ is an American Jesuit priest, theologian, educator, and former president of Santa Clara University from 2019 to 2021. He previously served as the dean of SCU's Jesuit School of Theology and as Vice President for Mission and Ministry at Georgetown University.
