Fellowship / Fellows

Frances Kissling

  • 2007–2008
  • Journalism & Nonfiction
  • Catholics for a Free Choice
Headshot of Frances Kissling
Photo by Tony Rinaldo

This information is accurate as of the fellowship year indicated for each fellow.

Frances Kissling, dubbed the “philosopher of the pro-choice movement” by Boston Globe columnist Ellen Goodman, is widely considered one of the more thoughtful proponents of international reproductive health rights. Kissling recently stepped down as president of Catholics for a Free Choice to pursue more deeply the connections among rights, morality, and responsibility as they apply to the US abortion debate.

At Radcliffe, Kissling will be working on a book that addresses some of the more intractable issues in abortion—including fetal status, women’s moral agency, and parents’ and men’s roles—using a feminist ethical lens. The project will focus on research and writing as well as semistructured interviews with intellectual leaders and activists in related fields.

Kissling has published more than 120 articles in international journals, magazines, and newspapers, including the Guardian, the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, the Nation, and the New York Times. She has consulted widely with European and Latin American parliaments and was a keynote speaker at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995.

Our 2023–2024 Fellows

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