The Notre Dame Office of Life and Human Dignity and the University of Notre Dame's de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture will host a free, three-part webinar series through fall 2022. This series will address questions facing women, physicians, and policy makers following the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
Part III: A Blueprint for the Future
Patrick T. Brown, Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center
Patrick T. Brown is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where his work focuses on family policy. He is also a contributing writer for Deseret News, and has been published in The New York Times, National Review, Politico, The Washington Post, and USA Today. Prior to joining EPPC, Patrick served as a Senior Policy Advisor to Congress’ Joint Economic Committee, and also worked as a government relations staffer for Catholic Charities USA. He holds a master’s in public affairs from Princeton University and is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame.
Dr. Katharine Callaghan, Associate Director at Memorial Hospital’s Family Medicine Residency Program in South Bend; adjunct professor through the Hillebrand Center at Notre Dame.
Dr. Callaghan is an Associate Director at Memorial Hospital’s Family Medicine Residency Program in South Bend. Since 2020, she has been an adjunct professor through the Hillebrand Center at Notre Dame.
After graduating from Notre Dame, Dr. Callaghan remained in South Bend for a year to work with two different non-profit organizations in the area. She then attended Vanderbilt University School of Medicine earning her Doctor of Medicine degree as well as a certificate in biomedical ethics in 2017. While a resident and fellow at Memorial Hospital in South Bend, she obtained her Master of Public Affairs degree at Indiana University. She is board certified in Family Medicine. Throughout her education, Dr. Callaghan received awards for academic excellence, leadership, and community involvement.
The ways in which healthcare practitioners’ spiritual beliefs intersect with the practice of medicine, specifically in encounters with the sickness and suffering within themselves and that experienced in the story of their patients has been a particular interest of Dr. Callaghan.
Jenny Hunsberger, Vice President of Women's Care Center
Jenny Hunsberger (University of Notre Dame, ’95) is the Vice President of Women's Care Center. Throughout her tenure, Women’s Care has grown to become the largest pregnancy resource center in the nation, serving 30,000 women annually from 34 centers in 12 states. Hunsberger was introduced to Women's Care in 1991 as a freshman at Notre Dame through the Center for Social Concerns. Throughout her time at Notre Dame she volunteered and interned for Women’s Care Center and feels blessed that what started as a volunteer opportunity has grown into a lifelong vocation. She is passionate about Women's Care Center's mission to offer radical hospitality and strengths-based care to women facing challenging pregnancies. And, she is excited to continue to grow the Women’s Care Center to provide the best care and support to women and families in communities across the country
Katrina R. Jackson, Louisiana State Senate, District 34, Democrat
Katrina was born and raised in Monroe, Louisiana. Katrina graduated from the University of Louisiana at Monroe where she majored in Pre-Law and Legal Studies. Her commitment to an aspiring career in the legal profession led her to receive her Juris Doctorate from Southern University in Baton Rouge in 2004.
Armed with her law degree and several years of mentoring from attorney and former State Representative Willie Hunter, Jr., Katrina came to the Louisiana Legislature in 2006 as a Staff Attorney for the House Committee on Labor & Industrial Relations and as Executive Director of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus. Her exposure to the issues the legislature faced; and the leaders crafting solutions; and fighting for people gave her new insights and opened new doors for her.
In 2011 she announced for the 16th State House seat (parts of Ouachita and Morehouse Parishes) being vacated and won in the first round of voting against 3 other opponents. She was subsequently elected without opposition in 2015 for a second term. In August of 2019 she was elected Senator for District 34 without opposition.
Part II: Practitioner & Practice
Thursday, September 29, 2022 at 4:00 p.m. EDT
Featured speakers include:
Mary Bauer, Certified Nurse Midwife and Director of Midwifery Services at Ascension Health Saint Mary of Nazareth Hospital in Chicago
Mary E. Bauer CNM, MS is a Catholic Pro-Life Midwife, and mother of five grown children. Mary received her BA in English Language and Literature from University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign in May 1979. Afterwards she graduated from Northwestern University with her certificate in Dental Hygiene in 1981 and worked part-time as a dental hygienist for many years while raising her family. During the early 2000’s, after a series of healthcare mission trips to Mexico City, Mary felt called by God to further her training in healthcare and went back to school to become a certified nurse midwife. Upon graduation with her Master of Science in Nursing from University of Illinois Chicago in December 2008, she joined the UIC College of Nursing faculty, mentoring student nurse-midwives, and delivering countless babies for a largely indigent population in Chicago. In 2016, she joined the Catholic based Presence Healthcare system (now known as Ascension Health) at St Mary of Nazareth Hospital in Chicago where she works full time as the Director of Midwifery Services in both an administrative and clinical role. Mary views her role in midwifery both as a gift and a ministry, hoping to make a lasting impact in her field. She has been active in her parish in Hinsdale, Illinois for over 27 years, as founder of the parish chapter of Elizabeth Ministry, which aids women in crisis and loss during the childbearing years. Mary has a special interest in pro-life matters as they pertain to her patient care as well as on a larger scale. She is happily married to husband Patrick for 42 years, and in her spare time goes to her home in Michigan for peace and respite as often as possible
Charles Camosy, Professor of Medical Humanities at the Creighton University School of Medicine
Charlie Camosy is Professor of Medical Humanities at the Creighton University School of Medicine, where he teaches medical ethics to first and second year medical students at their new campus in Phoenix, Arizona. In addition, he holds the Monsignor Curran Fellowship in Moral Theology at St. Joseph Seminary in New York. Prior to that, Charlie spent 14 years in Fordham University’s theology department, where he taught since finishing his Ph.D. in theology at Notre Dame in 2008. His work has appeared in the American Journal of Bioethics, Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, Journal of the Catholic Health Association, New York Times, Washington Post, and America magazine. He has monthly columns with Religious News Service and Angelus, and he also does weekly interviews for The Pillar.
Charlie is the author of six books, and has two more on the way. These include Peter Singer and Christian Ethics, Beyond the Abortion Wars, Resisting Throwaway Culture. His most recent book, published in July 2021, is Losing Our Dignity: How Secularized Medicine is Undermining Fundamental Human Equality. He is also the founding editor of a new book series with New City Press called The Magenta Project.
In addition to his award winning writing, he advises Faith Outreach office of the Humane Society of the United States and the pro-life commission of the Archdiocese of New York. He has four children, three of whom he and his wife Paulyn adopted from a Filipino orphanage in June of 2016.
Dr. Karen Deighan, Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Loyola University, Health System; Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Gottlieb Memorial Hospital
Dr. Karen Deighan is Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Loyola University Health System. She is an Academic Generalist in the Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She is Chairman of the Department of Obstetics and Gynecology at Gottlieb Memorial Hospital. She has a busy clinical practice, with special interest in menopause and natural family planning. Dr. Deighan is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, and the University of Illinois College of Medicine. She completed her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Illinois Hospitals and Clinics. She has served on numerous connittees during her tenure and has a strong interest in medical student and resident education. She was named Attending of the Year by the M3 Class at Loyola’s Stritch School of Medicine in 2019. Dr. Deighan supports Aid for Women as a member of its Program Committee. She and her husband have four grown sons.
Joseph Piccione, Ministry Ethicist for the OSF Healthcare System in Peoria, Illinois
Dr. Joseph Piccione is a Catholic theologian and ethicist holding graduate degrees in theology from the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC (M.A., S.T.L. "License in Sacred Theology") and St. Mary's Seminary and University (S.Th.D.; "Doctor of Sacred Theology").
His training also includes a law (Juris Doctor) degree from the Catholic University in Washington, D.C. where he worked as a "policy expert," analyzing family-related welfare issues. In the 1980s, while still in Washington, he discussed death-and-dying issues on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and "20/20."
He also worked for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and was a staff member of the National Commission on America's Urban Families and the National Commission on Children. He wrote op-ed pieces in 1994 for USA Today criticizing human embryo research and certain contraception programs.
Dr. Piccione currently serves as a Ministry Ethicist for OSF Healthcare System in Peoria. He resides in Metamora, Illinois with his wife Nancy and children
Part I: Patients & Physicians
Tuesday, August 16 at 4:00 p.m. EDT
Featured speakers include:
Dr. Christina Francis, a board-certified OB/GYN in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and CEO-elect of AAPLOG, the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists
Dr. Christina Francis is a board-certified OB/GYN who currently works in Fort Wayne, IN as an OB/GYN Hospitalist. Dr. Francis completed medical school at Indiana University in 2005 and completed her OB/GYN residency at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana in 2009. She is a board member and CEO-Elect of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, an associate scholar with the Charlotte Lozier Institute, a board member of Indiana Right to Life, and a physician member of the Abortion Pill Reversal Network. As a pro-life speaker, Dr. Francis offers her medical expertise, knowledge of bioethics, and pro-life reasoning both here in the U.S and around the globe. She has always had a passion for human rights, spending a significant portion of her life in various countries working tirelessly on behalf of women and children. Dr. Francis worked for three years as the only OB/GYN at a mission hospital in rural Kenya until returning to the US in 2014 to work on behalf of women and children both in the US and internationally who are often victims of the abortion industry. She has written on issues surrounding women’s health and abortion for publications including the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek and USA Today.
Dr. Byron Calhoun, a board-certified high-risk OB/GYN specializing in maternal/fetal health and professor of OB/GYN at West Virginia University
Byron Calhoun, MD, FACOG, FACS, FASAM, MBA, is a Professor and Vice-Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the College of Medicine at the West Virginia University, Charleston, West Virginia. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology with board certification in general Obstetrics and Gynecology and in the sub-specialty of Maternal-Fetal Medicine. He also is also board certified in Addictions Medicine. He is a member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society of Maternal Fetal Medicine. Dr. Calhoun received his BS in as a1979 Distinguished Graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, graduated from the University of Iowa Medical School with an MD in 1983, completed his residency in OB/GYN at the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1987 and finished a Fellowship in Maternal-Fetal Medicine at the Oregon Health Sciences University in 1989. Dr. Calhoun has authored 90 peer review articles in the obstetric and gynecologic literature, presented over 100 scientific papers, participated in over 40 research projects, and has published numerous articles on medical aspects of obstetrics and gynecology. He edited and published a monograph (March, 2016) dealing with addictions in women’s health titled Tobacco Cessation and Substance Abuse Treatment in Women’s Healthcare with Springer publications. He has been married to his wife Kathryn for 42 years and has 6 children and 2 grandchildren.
Leah Libresco Sargeant, author who has written about her experience with ectopic pregnancy
Leah Libresco Sargeant runs Other Feminisms, a substack community focused on the dignity of mutual dependence. She is the author of Arriving at Amen and Building the Benedict Option. She is the mother of two living daughters, and six children that she and her husband lost through miscarriage.
Dr. Monique Chireau Wubbenhorst, an OB/GYN with expertise in international health and Senior Public Policy Fellow at the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture
Dr. Monique Chireau Wubbenhorst, MD, MPH, FACOG, FAHA, has been an obstetrician-gynecologist for over 30 years. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College and received her MD from Brown University and her MPH from Harvard University. She completed her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Yale-New Haven Hospital and subsequently did her postdoctoral fellowship in health services research at the Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill before joining the faculty at Duke University School of Medicine in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. Chireau Wubbenhorst worked in the Veterans Administration and was Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator in Global Health at the United States Agency for International Development, Washington, D.C.. She is currently a Senior Public Policy Fellow at the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture.
Dr. Chireau Wubbenhorst has been involved in patient care, teaching, research, health systems, and health policy in a variety of domestic and international settings, including inner city Boston, rural North Carolina, and Native American reservations in the United States and India, the Philippines, Kazakhstan, Ghana, Nepal, Cameroon, and South Sudan internationally. Her research and other interests include international health and policy, the epidemiology and molecular biology of adverse pregnancy outcomes, reproductive health, health services research, and ethics in reproductive health. She has authored multiple peer-reviewed publications.
Interested in learning more on this topic?
"How Americans Understand Abortion: A Comprehensive Interview Study of Abortion Attitudes in the U.S." is a landmark study and a must-read for anyone committed to understanding not only what Americans believe about abortion but how they think about it.
Missed our previous series? Check out our recordings on:
-
The Crossroads of Science and Human Dignity (Fall 2021 | Spring 2022)
-
The Intersection of Racial Justice and Life Issues
-
The Intersection of Justice and Pregnancy