The recent appointment of abortion advocate Susan Ostermann to director of the Liu Institute is astonishing coming from a university dedicated to the mother of an unplanned pregnancy. And the decision should be viewed as none other than a slap in the face to every woman here.
As is widely reported, Ostermann has dedicated a significant portion of her professional talent and influence to the dissemination of articles vilifying the pro-life movement.
She has called the carrying of an unplanned child an instance of “violence,” “sexual abuse” and “trauma.” She has called crisis pregnancy centers, which care for any woman who enters their doors, places of “propaganda” existing to “provide false information to women who are lured to them believing they will receive legitimate medical care.”
Four years ago, Ostermann’s views were so abhorrent to the values of this University that former President Jenkins publicly rejected an article she wrote alongside two other Notre Dame faculty that was titled “Lies about abortion have dictated our health policy.” Now, Ostermann has been selected to lead one of our University’s institutes.
Our provost, John McGreevy, announced last year that the hiring of women and minorities would become a priority equal to that of hiring Catholics. Ostermann’s appointment, presumably an implementation of McGreevy’s plan, is doing nothing to aid women at Notre Dame. It is doing the opposite, promoting the saddest lie ever told to them: that their children are disposable.
Women are tired of being told that their strength lies in the rejection of love. No, unplanned pregnancies do not “destroy lives.” No, a child born of rape is not a “form of violence.” In its appointment and promotion of Ostermann, Notre Dame has become complicit in feeding that great lie to its female students. Until it begins to defend the sanctity of all life — mother and baby alike — in all of its actions, Notre Dame can never hope to fulfill the singular duty it bears to its female students as Our Lady’s University.
Lucy Spence
Editor in Chief, Irish Rover
Class of 2027
Feb. 4
