Frances Kissling

Frances Kissling is a 2007/8 Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University where she is working on a book on ethics and abortion as well as publishing essays on current controversies in reproductive health and rights and feminism. She is currently a member of the board of Catolicas por el derecho a decider, Mexico, Ibis Reproductive Health, Change and the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, the editorial advisory board of Reproductive Health Matters, the technical review boards of IPPF's Safe Abortion Fund and the Eurongos Small Grants Fund and the advisory board of the Women's Bioethics Project. She has served on the boards of the International Women's Health Coalition, Guttmacher Institute, and SIECUS and is one of three founders of the Global Fund for Women. Over her 38 years of work in the field of reproductive rights, Frances has been the director of several abortion clinics in the US and helped develop abortion services in Italy, Austria and Mexico. She was a founder and the first executive director of the National Abortion Federation. For 25 years she served as the president of Catholics for a Free Choice.

Kissling is a prolific writer, having co authored with Ellen Frankfurt, Rosie The Investigation of a Wrongful Death, contributed chapters in 8 books on reproduction and/or religion and produced over 120 articles, book reviews and op-eds for periodicals as diverse as the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, The New York Times, LA Times, SF Chronicle, Salon.com, The Nation, O Globo (Brazil), Debate Feminista (Mexico), Gazeta Wyborcza (Poland). Kissling has worked extensively in Latin America on reproductive health issues and lectured and conducted workshops in 35 countries.

Fighting Fake Common Ground

To have asked women to wait another day for Obama to reverse the global gag rule in order to satisfy the fake "common ground" is disrespectful of women's lives, let alone their moral autonomy.

Sarah Palin: A Fatally Flawed Feminist

Feminism is about women being seen as competent moral agents, not restricting the options and conditions women have to make the choice that is best for them. Feminists for Life and the policies of Sarah Palin miss the mark.

Progressive, Pro-Life and Full of Yourself

The Democratic Party Platform comes very close to embracing the reproductive health agenda that has been consistently advocated by the pro-choice, progressive women's movement. So why are "pro-life" progressives claiming victory?

Regarding Michelle’s Questions…

Preaching from the US about sexual and reproductive rights is not productive. Our own house is not quite clean enough. So we really need to link our domestic policies and their enforcement with our moral voice abroad.

Is This A “Bold” Plan?

Is Adrienne Germain's plan really a bold one? Only in the sense that the US is so far behind the curve on modern thought about gender, sexuality and reproduction that getting there with our current mindset is unthinkable. In this sense, it is a good plan for the 20th century, but I say let's be really bold and move to the 21st.

What the Hell Is Going On In Spain?

Why do I find the Spanish clinics' broad interpretation of "serious mental health risks" ethically problematic when I have no problem with the hundreds of doctors throughout Latin America, Africa and Asia that are routinely breaking the law and providing safe first trimester abortions?