Compass Gender: Georgetown Students Protest Pro-Life Conference

Students protest the Cardinal O'Connor Conference on Life in January. (Claire Beezley)

Over 70 student activists gathered in front of Georgetown’s Healy Hall to protest the Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life on January 25.

Founded by Georgetown students in 2000, the conference brings together the nation’s leading pro-life organizations to “promote intellectually rigorous discourse on the dignity of human life.” The conference, now in its twenty-first year, is endorsed by Georgetown’s President and the Office of Public Affairs, along with student groups such as the Right to Life group, the Knights of Columbus, and the Catholic Daughters of America. 

Controversy surrounds several of the conference’s speakers. Catherine Glenn Foster was former litigation counsel to Alliance Defending Freedom, which the Southern Poverty Law Center classifies as an LGBTQ+ hate group. Keynote speaker Sister Bethany Madonna has allegedly espoused anti-LGBTQ+ viewpoints. Students questioned whether the conference and its speakers aligned with Georgetown’s stated value of cura personalis and its commitment to providing a supportive, inclusive space for its students, including women.

“It’s Georgetown making a statement and it’s a statement that inherently hurts the rights of women, and is incredibly ignorant in examining the inequalities that exist when it comes to abortion,” said Natalie Chaudhuri (SFS ’22).

In preparation for the protest, students from H*yas for Choice and GU Pride chalked up Red Square with phrases such as “#CoccBlock” and “O’Connor Watched As Queer Folks Died,” the latter of which also featured in protest chants.

“We don’t want to stand for this as Georgetown students… We think that it’s disgusting that every year, Georgetown puts our money into paying for a conference like this,” said Chloe Kekedjian, Director of Media and Communications for H*yas for Choice.

Cardinal O’Connor, whom the conference is named after, is himself haunted by a dual legacy. On one hand, he advocated for the poor and homeless and spoke against human trafficking and unjust war. He also founded an unprecedented specialized AIDS medical care unit and ministered to over a thousand dying AIDS patients during the epidemic, cleaning sores and emptying bedpans with the full knowledge that many of his patients belonged to the LGBTQ+ community. On the other hand, he vehemently opposed gay rights legislation, including workplace anti-discrimination laws. In addition, he spoke out strongly against distributing condoms as an AIDS-prevention method, adhering to the Catholic belief that contraceptives are immoral.

It follows that his legacy at Georgetown should also be double-edged: the largest student-run pro-life conference in the United States — and the student protests that rise against it every year.