Frances Kissling
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Frances Kissling (1943-) was President of Catholics for a Free Choice from its founding in 1982 until her resignation in February 2007.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Frances Kissling was born Frances Romanski into a Polish working-class Catholic family in New York in 1943,[1] the oldest of four children. Her mother divorced and later married a man named Kissling. Inspired by the nuns at her Catholic school, she joined a convent in the early 1960s at age 19. However after just six months she left due to disagreements with the church's teachings on divorce and birth control.[2]
[edit] Pro-choice activism
Kissling became active in the women's movement in the 1960s. In 1970, after abortion was made legal in New York, she was asked to direct an abortion clinic in Pelham. In 1977 she was appointed founding President of the National Abortion Federation, a position she held until 1980.[3] In 1978 she joined the board of Catholics for a Free Choice, and in 1982 she took over as president - a position she held for 25 years until her retirement in 2007. She is strongly committed to public funding for reproductive health and abortion, and is the co-author of Rosie: The Investigation of a Wrongful Death.[4]
[edit] References
- United States National Library of Medicine: Guide to Oral Histories in Medicine and the Health Sciences
- Planned Parenthood: Choice in the News: Backing Abortion Rights While Keeping the Faith
- Catholics for a Free Choice: Press Releases: Frances Kissling, Influential Proponent of Reproductive Choice and Vocal Critic of the Roman Catholic Church, To Step Down After 25 Years as President of Catholics for a Free Choice
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