As the University of Notre Dame faces concerns of false advertising, it may be time for Catholic students and tuition-paying parents to ask themselves if they can get a discount on the <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://financialaid.nd.edu/costs-and-affordability/*:*:text=Table_title:*20Average*20Cost*20of*20Attendance*20for*202025*2D2026,Item:*20Personal*20Expenses*20*7C*20Cost:*20$1*2C200*20*7C__;I34lJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUl!!PxibshUo2Yr_Ta5B!xeeyTqD64ZFzG_RrEs6Yd0Qaau2zcy6SUEERwZ4F45ZWTmEYrJm7W1nCOGIuVsLO4nor7TKURdD2VfAPiiLS$">$90,000</a> per year price tag. While the school&#8217;s website <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nd.edu/faith/__;!!PxibshUo2Yr_Ta5B!xeeyTqD64ZFzG_RrEs6Yd0Qaau2zcy6SUEERwZ4F45ZWTmEYrJm7W1nCOGIuVsLO4nor7TKURdD2VTuaGZjq$">reads,</a> “Notre Dame’s Catholic character informs all it does,” the recent promotion of a pro-abortion professor leaves that statement in doubt.
It’s hard to see how that Catholic character led the school to appoint an outspoken abortion activist to a leadership role. Either the Holy Father, church tradition, and the Bible are all mistaken, and the Catholic faith can in fact coexist with abortion, or Notre Dame is seriously misinformed as to what being Catholic actually means.
Susan Ostermann, the abortion proponent in question, was employed at the university for almost nine years as a professor before the school announced her appointment as the new director of the Keough School of Global Affairs’ Liu Institute of Asia and Asian Studies.
During her tenure, Ostermann used her platform to author and coauthor multiple articles on abortion.
“Forced pregnancy and childbirth is violence,” wrote Ostermann for <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/05/04/forced-pregnancy-and-childbirth-are-violence-against-women-and-also-terrible-health-policy/">Salon.com</a>. “It is sexual abuse. It is trauma.”
“When the state supports forced pregnancy and childbirth, it is complicit in this violence,” she continues.
Attempts to outlaw abortion “have their roots in white supremacy and racism,” Ostermann explains in <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https*3A*2F*2Fwww.salon.com*2F2022*2F07*2F19*2Fabortion-and-guns-how-supremacy-unites-the-right*2F&amp;data=05*7C02*7Ckhamrick*40studentsforlife.org*7C0cf1d02750f443d94e9c08de629fea78*7Cb3f92ab929b141449c57d11e0e7a368a*7C0*7C0*7C639056636131764390*7CUnknown*7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ*3D*3D*7C0*7C*7C*7C&amp;sdata=TXL*2BrMPjzahb5dpgLcERcEvPkBHoMtHjKg4bomIhPNY*3D&amp;reserved=0__;JSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSU!!PxibshUo2Yr_Ta5B!xeeyTqD64ZFzG_RrEs6Yd0Qaau2zcy6SUEERwZ4F45ZWTmEYrJm7W1nCOGIuVsLO4nor7TKURdD2VSkEFO79$">another article</a> titled, “Abortion, racism, and guns: How white supremacy unites the right.”
Of course, almost all of the claims in Ostermann’s articles are false. It was the early pro-abortion movement, not the pro-life movement, that stemmed from racism and promoted eugenics. Nor, as Ostermann implies in her other article, are a large portion of pregnancies (or abortions) the result of rape.
But even setting aside the accuracy of Ostermann’s claims, her articles highlight a much deeper issue: a lack of belief in the sanctity of life. It’s impossible to believe that life is sacred while also believing that protecting preborn lives is “violence.”
Most would have expected better of Notre Dame. Recently, the top-ranked school did get a “B” in <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.instituteforprolifeadvancement.org/christian-schools-tied-to-big-abortion-2025-research-results/__;!!PxibshUo2Yr_Ta5B!xeeyTqD64ZFzG_RrEs6Yd0Qaau2zcy6SUEERwZ4F45ZWTmEYrJm7W1nCOGIuVsLO4nor7TKURdD2VbVu2X9l$">Students for Life’s Christian Schools</a> report that looked at 725 Christian colleges and universities claiming to be faith-based (excluding denominations that support abortion).
We found that fully 114 self-proclaimed Christian colleges have ties to abortion. That’s 114 schools directly violating the faith they proclaim. In Notre Dame’s case, their Gender Studies Program (and that’s a red flag) held an event “<a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://genderstudies.nd.edu/events-and-news/events/2023/03/20/trans-care-abortion-care-intersections-and-questions/__;!!PxibshUo2Yr_Ta5B!xeeyTqD64ZFzG_RrEs6Yd0Qaau2zcy6SUEERwZ4F45ZWTmEYrJm7W1nCOGIuVsLO4nor7TKURdD2Vcm379w-$">Trans Care &amp; Abortion Care”</a> featuring outspoken abortion advocates. That makes two major strikes against the school, apparently masquerading as a mentor of future Catholic leaders.
The most fundamental Christian principle is the sanctity of life. God created humans in his image, bestowing upon them inherent worth and value starting at the point of conception. Through that creation, humans derive, or are “endowed by their Creator with,” certain rights — including, for example, the right to life.
Abortion directly contradicts that principle, painting life as something meaningless to be destroyed at the convenience of another. In fact, <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://catholicvote.org/pope-tells-political-conference-attendees-greatest-destroyer-peace-abortion/__;!!PxibshUo2Yr_Ta5B!xeeyTqD64ZFzG_RrEs6Yd0Qaau2zcy6SUEERwZ4F45ZWTmEYrJm7W1nCOGIuVsLO4nor7TKURdD2VWoA4mIk$">Pope Leo XIV paid tribute to Mother Teresa</a> recently by noting that “the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion.”
By appointing Ostermann, Notre Dame has established — in its leadership, no less — someone who stands against everything it proclaims to believe.
In one of Ostermann’s articles, she writes, “When we stand by… we are complicit as well.” She was referring to states “forcing unwanted pregnancies” by restricting abortion. Ironically, her words ring true for Christians. If we stand silent while “Christian” institutions betray the Savior they confess by supporting the murder of infants in the name of compassion and love, then we are complicit.
What must happen instead?
For students, parents, and donors, the path forward is clear: Pressure Christian schools to either cut ties to abortion or stop falsely claiming Christ.
For other Christians, speaking out can take different forms — volunteering at a pro-life pregnancy center, supporting a pregnant community member and enabling her to choose life, or even taking to a public platform to proclaim the truth that abortion is murder.
For a self-proclaimed Catholic university — one that describes its actions as motivated by its faith — to appoint such a person to a leadership role exposes, at best, a lack of wisdom and, at worst, complete and utter moral decay.
This is a good time to pray a Hail Mary, to pray for us sinners, and those leading the schools where we send the next generation of leaders, that they be taught to uphold the faith and not to ignore it.
* * *
Kristan Hawkins is president of Students for Life of America and Students for Life Action, with more than 1,600 groups on middle and high school, college and university, medical and law school campuses in all 50 states. Follow her <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https*3A*2F*2Ftwitter.com*2Fkristanhawkins*3Flang*3Den&amp;data=05*7C02*7Ckhamrick*40studentsforlife.org*7C27bf81b427ed4d25627b08de543f97de*7Cb3f92ab929b141449c57d11e0e7a368a*7C0*7C0*7C639040829270781521*7CUnknown*7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ*3D*3D*7C0*7C*7C*7C&amp;sdata=C7ZzuOMy7XZf3hb*2BILic3mUgaqZuQh6MDnb0058Hz9Q*3D&amp;reserved=0__;JSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUl!!PxibshUo2Yr_Ta5B!xeeyTqD64ZFzG_RrEs6Yd0Qaau2zcy6SUEERwZ4F45ZWTmEYrJm7W1nCOGIuVsLO4nor7TKURdD2VYCUQYHT$">@KristanHawkins</a> or subscribe to her podcast, <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https*3A*2F*2Fkristanhawkins.com*2Fpodcast*2F&amp;data=05*7C02*7Ckhamrick*40studentsforlife.org*7C27bf81b427ed4d25627b08de543f97de*7Cb3f92ab929b141449c57d11e0e7a368a*7C0*7C0*7C639040829270800277*7CUnknown*7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ*3D*3D*7C0*7C*7C*7C&amp;sdata=b*2FEcs9UMK8btQOVIQRZOYfijz83AGjLJGPSCY9iS12M*3D&amp;reserved=0__;JSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSU!!PxibshUo2Yr_Ta5B!xeeyTqD64ZFzG_RrEs6Yd0Qaau2zcy6SUEERwZ4F45ZWTmEYrJm7W1nCOGIuVsLO4nor7TKURdD2VZIKwc82$">The Kristan Hawkins Show.</a>
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Notre Dame in Winter

Notre Dame Touts Faith But Elevates Abortion Advocate

Abortion

American Universities

Catholic

catholic university

Leftists

Notre Dame University

Pro-Abortion

Pro-Life Movement

Professors

The Daily Wire recently featured <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-a-california-psychology-student-exposed-the-dark-side-of-therapy-education" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the shocking and sad story</a> of Naomi Epps Best’s struggle for toleration in a graduate marriage and family therapy program at Santa Clara University.
Best describes outrageous violations of privacy, decency, and traditional religious values — which are made all the more outrageous by the fact that they occurred at a Catholic university.
Santa Clara is an extreme case. But it’s part of an unfortunate trend among Catholic colleges and universities. These schools believe they must become like secular universities in order to achieve academic excellence and adequately prepare their students for the workforce.
One example of a Catholic university that has self-consciously stood against this self-immolation of Catholic schools for over 50 years is Franciscan University of Steubenville.
We are driven by a different conviction: that the Gospel can be integrated with the intellectual life and with rigorous formation in the various professional disciplines, and without a loss to these disciplines.
Christian values are not an obstacle to excellent formation in the mental health professions. Teachers do not need to demonstrate their willingness to contradict Christian teaching by promoting perverse sexual practices in the classroom, and students do not need to set aside their deepest convictions about what gives life meaning and purpose in order to serve others in the noble professions of marriage and family therapy, counseling, psychology, or social work.
So, what should Naomi Epps Best have experienced in a graduate mental health program at a Catholic university?
Fundamentally, education in the mental health professions at a Catholic university should be committed to providing students with formation shaped both by faith and reason in a therapeutic context. Reason embraces all that psychological sciences have to offer in understanding the human person individually and in context, including the human bodily and emotional experience, the relational dimension, the intellect, the will, and the spiritual nature of being human.
No professional program in the mental health field with a goal of training skilled, knowledgeable professionals who embody the dispositions necessary to the mental health practice can do without the knowledge that comes from psychological research or the wisdom hard-won from clinicians working daily in the field.
At the same time, as St. John Paul II stated, “Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth.” Faith and revelation offer a window into the mystery of the human person that one cannot glean from science alone, and provide a means to discerning truth in a field where relativistic views tend to be preferred.
A Catholic mental health training program should invite its students to consider clinical practice in light of the revealed truth of the Christian faith. In this way, students in a Catholic university have a way to analyze ideas, research, and treatment techniques from the perspective of a Christian understanding of the human person.
Very often, the psychological sciences and faith align wonderfully, allowing students to have confidence in the treatment techniques they study. Sometimes, though, widely endorsed clinical approaches that are part of the mental health fields — and the philosophies upon which theories are based — do not align with a Christian view of the person. At a Catholic university, students in a mental health training program must be given the tools to make these discernments.
How does this work in practice? It begins with crafting an environment where faith is a welcomed part of the clinical training program, and where students can grapple with questions about how the Christian faith can inform practice for the good, while being balanced by appropriate professional dispositions of respect for client differences.
It happens through faculty who are committed to asking students to analyze clinical and research-informed literature through the lens of the Christian faith and revelation. It happens when a program creates an ethos where students’ dignity, worth, and deeply-held values are respected.
For example, invitations to personal exploration that are common and necessary to training in mental health are balanced by basic reverence for personal privacy and modesty. Faculty can provide space for students at a Catholic university to actually live and express their Christian faith in the classroom, in clinical supervision, and even in the clinical setting with clients. Those same faculty can mentor their students in how not to see that faith as a detriment and how to manage its expression in a professionally appropriate and careful way.
When Catholic universities set aside their identity to strive for the esteem of the world, they’ll eventually end up with neither. Loosened from the Gospel and the Christian tradition, they’ll fall prey to the worst and most harmful trends in higher education and rightly earn the disdain of even the world.
Students like Naomi have options. We have welcomed her to complete her studies here, and other students should know that they need not suffer an assault on their Christian values as a rite of passage to become a mental health professional. There are places for them.
Dr. Stephen Hildebrand is the provost and a theology professor at Franciscan University of Steubenville, where Dr. Christin Jungers is the dean of the School of Professional Programs and a professor of mental health counseling.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Franciscan University of Steubenville campus and chapel

Here’s What Mental Health Studies Should Look Like At A Christian College

Mental Health

Psychiatry

Sexual Harassment

Therapy

Daily Wire host Michael Knowles exposed a Catholic college for teaching psychiatric nurse practitioner students &#8220;how to greenlight the castration, sterilization, and mutilation of gender-confused kids and adults&#8221; in an exclusive thread on X.
Steph Williams, a lecturer who uses he/him and she/her pronouns, taught students at Mount Saint Mary College in New York how to halt puberty in children as young as nine, even if they did not experience gender dysphoria, Knowles revealed, based on a tip from advocacy group Do No Harm.
&#8220;Per Williams: If a 12-year-old girl menstruates and feels ‘stress,’ she might grow up to be a depressed alcoholic—unless we drug her,&#8221; Knowles said. &#8220;That’s the rationale for chemically halting puberty in gender-confused kids.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
2/ Psychiatric nurse practitioner students at Mount Saint Mary’s College in New York were taught how to greenlight the castration, sterilization, and mutilation of gender-confused kids and adults. 
Their lecturer? A he/him/she/her with no medical degree named “Steph” Williams. <a href="https://t.co/lVBAYENTk5">pic.twitter.com/lVBAYENTk5</a>
&mdash; Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) <a href="https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles/status/1932846868880576880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Mount Saint Mary College was <a href="https://www.msmc.edu/about/">founded</a> by the Sisters of St. Dominic in 1959, according to its about page, and says its &#8220;roots in education&#8221; go back to Saint Dominic in the 13th century. The school&#8217;s website <a href="https://www.msmc.edu/life-at-the-mount/faith-service/">says</a> it is &#8220;a college in the Catholic and Dominican tradition.&#8221;
Williams is &#8220;a Director of LGBTQIA+ Relations and AmeriCorps Programming at Sun River Health&#8221; and &#8220;a certified organizational culture facilitator,&#8221; according to LinkedIn — but is not a licensed doctor, Knowles pointed out.
Using puberty blockers &#8220;buys the adolescent some time … to ensure that the person is indeed trans,&#8221; Williams said in a video obtained by The Daily Wire. If the child is not &#8220;trans&#8221; — which Williams said is very rare — she can discontinue puberty blockers and resume puberty as normal.
&#8220;Williams leaves out the significant potential harm of puberty blockers on bone density, fertility, and overall health,&#8221; Knowles said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
4/ And if they’re not “trans”? Don’t worry: “You just take yourself off the puberty blockers, and you start with your native puberty right off right where you left it.” 
Williams leaves out the potential harm of puberty blockers on bone density, fertility, and overall health. <a href="https://t.co/GuClqPyEoX">pic.twitter.com/GuClqPyEoX</a>
&mdash; Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) <a href="https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles/status/1932846959007551950?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Williams claimed adolescents under 18 did not take hormones, saying, &#8220;&#8216;The only adolescents who take hormone[s]&#8230; are folks who have other conditions.'&#8221; Those “other conditions” include precocious puberty and “really high hormones,” but “trans people do not take — unless there is something else going on — hormones before 18.”
Except, Williams said almost immediately, &#8220;It does happen, but it’s extremely, extremely rare.”
How rare? Between 2019 and 2023, “8,579 minors received hormones and puberty blockers,” according to <a href="https://stoptheharmdatabase.com/about/">Stop the Harm Database</a>. Stop the Harm also found that “62,682 sex change prescriptions were written for minors.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
6/ According to Williams, children as young as nine can begin pubertal suppression without even experiencing &quot;dysphoria.&quot; 
“And just like in adults, they don’t necessarily have to experience dysphoria.” 
They just need a history of gender confusion. <a href="https://t.co/vIZtnCgWVK">pic.twitter.com/vIZtnCgWVK</a>
&mdash; Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) <a href="https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles/status/1932847158685753750?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Williams also told students they did not need to understand all the material covered in class because the patient &#8220;is the expert&#8221; and &#8220;knows more&#8221; than the nurse practitioner.
Trans-identifying patients are defined by &#8220;self-declaration,&#8221; according to Williams&#8217; slideshow obtained by The Daily Wire.
&#8220;This is &#8216;gender-affirming care&#8217;: Children diagnosed by ideology. Puberty treated like a disease,&#8221; Knowles said. &#8220;And future nurse practitioners taught that their ignorance is a beneficial feature rather than a bug.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
8/ This is “gender-affirming care”: 
Children diagnosed by ideology, puberty treated like a disease.
And future nurse practitioners taught that their ignorance is a beneficial feature rather than a bug.
&mdash; Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) <a href="https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles/status/1932847285265707181?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Knowles slammed the medical standards of the trans agenda as &#8220;incoherent&#8221; and &#8220;rubber-stamping child abuse.&#8221;
&#8220;With &#8216;Catholic&#8217; institutions like Mount Saint Mary’s College, who needs paganism?&#8221; Knowles said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
10/ With “Catholic” institutions like Mount Saint Mary’s College, who needs paganism?
&mdash; Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) <a href="https://twitter.com/michaeljknowles/status/1932847289766228287?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Transgender hormone therapy

Michael Knowles Slams Catholic College For Teaching Students ‘How To Greenlight’ Child ‘Mutilation’

Children

College

Michael Knowles

Nursing

Transgender

Harrison Butker, kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs, is in the media’s target once again after his condemnation of the Paris Olympics’s opening ceremony. This year, the Olympics decided to celebrate drag queens by lining them across a long table with one woman in the center wearing a halo-like head dress. The scene presented a warped portrayal of <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/drag-performance-resembling-last-supper-olympics-opening-ceremony-rcna163927" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Da Vinci’s painting “Last Supper,”</a>  replacing Christ and His apostles with LGBTQ performers.
Butker <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/chiefs-kicker-harrison-butker-reacts-to-olympics-opening-ceremony-god-is-not-mocked" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reacted</a> to the scene by quoting the Bible, <a href="https://x.com/buttkicker7/status/1816953986114822172" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posting on X</a>, “Be not deceived, God is not mocked&#8230;”
Butker first made headlines for his political views back in May when he addressed the graduates of Benedictine College, the tiny liberal arts school I call home. Then, people from around the world swarmed social media to defend the poor, oppressed young women like me who were subjected to Butker’s misogynistic presumptions.
How could he assume that “the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world?” What an out-of-touch statement to say to a group of modern women.
But he was right.
Most female students at Benedictine, me included, care more about our potential families than our job prospects. Of course, this doesn’t mean that none of us will work. It doesn’t even mean that we will all go on to get married. My friends work hard on their academics and would make great employees. They just care more about falling in love and having children. What’s so bad about that?
As I head back to school this month, I’ve been thinking more about Butker’s commencement speech, especially as he has come under fire once again for his criticism of the Paris Olympics.
What I think most people are missing about Butker is the part of his speech that received far less media attention: his words to the graduating men.
Butker criticized absent fathers, challenged my male classmates to “do hard things,” and spoke to his own vocation as a husband and a father—not an athlete. His speech didn’t pit men and women in a power struggle against one another, the way feminists so often do. Nor did it diminish our differences and meld us into one unseemly mass of humanity, as was on display at the Paris Olympics.
Instead, Butker encouraged my classmates and me to love one another. That may be seen as radical or extreme, and I suppose it is. But it is also exciting.
My friends and I aren’t afraid of the prospect of being wives and mothers, we’re thrilled. And our male counterparts are eager to serve us in turn and devote their full strength to their family.
All that to say, Benedictine’s young women don’t need strangers on X to save us from the patriarchy. Considering that the alternative is men at the Olympics donning over-sexualized feminine stereotypes like a costume, the patriarchy looks pretty swell.
This school year, my friends and I are looking forward to quietly defying the idea that “womanhood” no longer has anything to do with being wives or mothers. Our lives are not a performance of physical stereotypes exaggerated for sexual pleasure. They’re real and they’re wonderful.
This fall, my first college party will be a wedding between recent Benedictine alumni. It promises to be a much more beautiful ceremony than what our elites just decided to put on in Paris.
* * *
Cecilia Jones is a student at Benedictine College and is a Summer 2024 Member of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation.
The view expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

US-SPORTS-ENTERTAINMENT-AWARDS-ESPY

Harrison Butker Was Right About The Young Women At My School

family

Feminism

Harrison Butker

Marriage

Paris Olympics

Patriarchy

Catholic University of America fired the professor who invited an abortion doula who used the term “birthing person” during a mandatory lecture, according to an email obtained by The Daily Wire.
“Now that we have clear evidence that the content of the class did not align with our mission and identity, we have now terminated our contract with the professor who invited the speaker,” university president Peter Kilpatrick wrote in a campus-wide email.
In audio recordings obtained by The Daily Wire, Rachel Carbonneau identified herself as an “abortion doula” during her January 23 lecture, and used radical terms such as “birthing person” and “seahorse births,” a reference to women who believe they are men giving birth. 
Carbonneau was invited to speak to during the LifeSpan Development course by instructor Melissa Goldberg, who has now been let go by the university.
Throughout the lecture, Carbonneau repeatedly used the term “birthing person” instead of “mother” or “woman.” When a student asked her to explain her use of the term, she discussed her work with transgender people.
“We do tend to default towards women,” she said. “We are currently at Catholic University, but we are in Washington, D.C., which is a very big and broad space and we work with trans clients. I have some men who have given birth. It’s amazing.”
Carbonneau referred to a transgender man giving birth as a “seahorse birth,” drawing a comparison to the marine fish species where birthing is carried out by males.
“We call it seahorse birth, it’s lovely” she said. “Especially when it’s a water birth. Fantastic.”
“The speaker identified herself as an “abortion doula” and she advocated for abortion, for language that distorts the distinctions between the sexes, and for the normalizing of transgender births,” Kilpatrick added. “While we were unable to confirm what exactly was said in the class, we did determine that the speaker’s views on life issues and on the anthropology of the human person were not consistent with our mission and identity as a faithful Catholic university, and that she should not be allowed to address the class again.”
The university previously told The Daily Wire that Carbonneau was no longer allowed to speak to the class. 
“The Catholic University of America was appalled to learn about reports regarding this guest speaker,” spokesperson Nicole Germain told The Daily Wire. “The guest speaker will not be speaking again to the class and we are re-communicating the terms and expectations by which all outside speakers are vetted and invited.”
Goldberg assigned students a homework reading assignment due the day of the class that explained the term “pregnant people.”
<div id="attachment_688491" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-688491" class="size-medium wp-image-688491" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/Screenshot-2109-300x164.png" alt="Birthing person screenshot" width="300" height="164" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/Screenshot-2109-300x164.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/Screenshot-2109-1024x559.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/Screenshot-2109-768x419.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/Screenshot-2109-1536x838.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/Screenshot-2109-2048x1117.png 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Reading assigned to Catholic University students discussing the use of the term &#8220;pregnant people&#8221; to be inclusive to transgender men. (Credit: Courtesy)</div>
“Trans men and people who are nonbinary are also capable of pregnancy if they have ovaries and a uterus, which is why we often use the term pregnant parent,” it reads. 
Carbonneau told the class that she has advised pregnant mothers to have an elective abortion. 
“I am an abortion doula as well and I know I’m at Catholic University,” she said. “I was a student here myself so I know that carries a lot of weight.”
“I have the honor and the privilege of working with families that have had to make the hardest decision of their entire lives and I will tell you, because I work with so many people that are having what we would consider an elective abortion in sort of the legal language… it is a crushing decision you have to make.”

“You’re fired” sign

Catholic University Fires Professor Who Subjected Students To Abortion Doula

Catholic University banned an abortion doula from speaking to a class after she encouraged students to use the term “birthing person” during a mandatory lecture.
In audio recordings obtained by The Daily Wire, Rachel Carbonneau identified herself as an “abortion doula” during her January 23 lecture, and used radical terms such as “birthing person” and “seahorse births,” a reference to women who believe they are men giving birth. 
“The Catholic University of America was appalled to learn about reports regarding this guest speaker,” spokesperson Nicole Germain told The Daily Wire. “It does not reflect our mission and values as a University that is committed to upholding the dignity of life at all stages.”
“The guest speaker will not be speaking again to the class and we are re-communicating the terms and expectations by which all outside speakers are vetted and invited,” Germain added.
Throughout the lecture, Carbonneau repeatedly used the term “birthing person” instead of “mother” or “woman.” When a student asked her to explain her use of the term, she discussed her work with transgender people.
“We do tend to default towards women,” she said. “We are currently at Catholic University, but we are in Washington, D.C., which is a very big and broad space and we work with trans clients. I have some men who have given birth. It&#8217;s amazing.”
Carbonneau referred to a transgender man giving birth as a “seahorse birth,” drawing a comparison to the marine fish species where birthing is carried out by males.
“We call it seahorse birth, it’s lovely” she said. “Especially when it&#8217;s a water birth. Fantastic.”
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1706370777182000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1rZs278QeRErxuxwtCwcq8">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
For a homework assignment due the day of the class, students were given a reading that explained the term “pregnant people.”
“Trans men and people who are nonbinary are also capable of pregnancy if they have ovaries and a uterus, which is why we often use the term pregnant parent,” it reads. 
<div id="attachment_688491" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-688491" class="wp-image-688491 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/Screenshot-2109-1024x559.png" alt="Birthing person screenshot" width="1024" height="559" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/Screenshot-2109-1024x559.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/Screenshot-2109-300x164.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/Screenshot-2109-768x419.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/Screenshot-2109-1536x838.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/Screenshot-2109-2048x1117.png 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Reading assigned to Catholic University students discussing the use of the term &#8220;pregnant people&#8221; to be inclusive to transgender men. (Credit: Courtesy)</div>
Carbonneau told the class that she has advised pregnant mothers to have an elective abortion. 
“I am an abortion doula as well and I know I&#8217;m at Catholic University,” she said. “I was a student here myself so I know that carries a lot of weight.”
“I have the honor and the privilege of working with families that have had to make the hardest decision of their entire lives and I will tell you, because I work with so many people that are having what we would consider an elective abortion in sort of the legal language… it is a crushing decision you have to make.”
Carbonneau’s lecture was hosted during a LifeSpan Development course which requires attendance for students at penalty of reducing their grade, according to the syllabus.
Second-year nursing student Felipe Avila told The Daily Wire he is concerned by his school inviting a guest lecturer who works in a field that is against the pro-life values of the Catholic Church.
“The decision to invite a de facto abortion counselor is deeply troubling, with far-reaching implications for the university,” Avila told The Daily Wire. “The erosion of Catholic values in university curricula threatens the institution&#8217;s foundation as &#8220;faithfully Catholic.&#8221; 
“The speaker&#8217;s troubling testimony reinforces the need for guardrails at the university, as it faces renewed calls for change,” he added. 
In a conversation after the lecture, Carbonneau told Avila she believes the conversations around transgender men giving birth should become normalized.
“I think just normalizing it, right, and like using the gender-neutral language and talking about pregnant men as, like pregnant people, pregnant women, pregnant men, or pregnant humans, right,” she said. 
Following students raising concerns about the lecture, Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Lynn Mayer offered to meet with students about their concerns, according to an email obtained by The Daily Wire.
At one point in the lecture, Carbonneau criticized doctors giving exams to women in labor.
“Obstetricians love to get all up in there with their fingers,” she said. “Hi, did you know you can have a whole human come out of your body with nobody doing an exam? But obstetricians will do exams to get data so we can like chart stuff like that. Every time we do a vaginal exam we&#8217;re introducing the risk of infection.”
Avila said he felt Carbonneau was highly critical of healthcare professionals and condescending to students during the lecture. 
“As an extension of her animosity, she embraced a condescending tone, even calling her audience ‘too young,’ he said. “Her depiction of healthcare providers was deeply unsettling and completely inappropriate at times.”
Avila said she personally questioned why he was pursuing a career in obstetrics in nursing practice.
“The speaker cited a lack of uterus as a point of concern among ‘pregnant people’ for a male like me entering the profession,” Avila said. “The speaker proudly peddled divisive narratives in the classroom while reminding us that the choices patients make should be of no consequence to us.&#8221;
Carbonneau did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Close-up of pregnant woman’s belly

Catholic University Pulls Plug On ‘Abortion Doula’ After Forcing Students To Attend Her Lecture