Pro-Life and Pro-Choice Leaders Together in the Same Room: Reverend Anne Fowler and Frances Hogan
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Pro-Life and Pro-Choice Leaders Together in the Same Room: Reverend Anne Fowler and Frances Hogan
Abortion is one of the most passionate, divisive, and emotional issues in the 2024 election campaign. The debate is often dominated by extremes on both sides.
But what if passionate pro-life and pro-choice movement leaders could get together in the same room and learn how to disagree better? That is exactly what happened in Massachusetts, beginning in the mid 1990’s. Leaders on both sides held secret discussions over the course of several years .
These wrenching conversations began in the mid 1990’s at a very difficult time— after two women were murdered by an anti-abortion extremist in Brookline, Massachusetts.
We hear from The Reverend Anne Fowler, an Episcopal Priest who served on the board of directors for the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, and lawyer Fran Hogan, who’s been President of Women Affirming Life. They’re among the six women profiled in the 2023 documentary, “The Abortion Talks”.
This interview was first published last year.
Reverend Anne Fowler
The Reverend Anne C Fowler is Episcopal priest semi-retired from parish ministry. She has lived out her commitment to women’s reproductive health and choice by serving on the boards of Planned Parenthood, MA, the board of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, and by serving on and chairing the board of NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts.
Frances Hogan
Frances Hogan is an accomplished legal professional who has served in leadership roles for numerous pro-life and Catholic organizations, including Women Affirming Life and the Pro-Life Committee of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Advisory Council to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. She has also served as a member of the Steering Committee of the Eighth Synod of the Archdiocese of Boston, as Chair of its Pro-Life Committee, on the Board of the Pro-Life Legal Defense Fund, on the Board of the Value of Life Committee, on the Board and as President of Massachusetts Citizens for Life. In 1996, Ms. Hogan was named by the Vatican as a Corresponding Member of the Pontifical Academy for Life and she served in that capacity for twenty years.
