Former Notre Dame professor cuts ties with university over abortion controversy

university Notre Dame The law professor and research professor emeritus told Fox News Digital that they have cut ties with the university’s Liu Institute for Asian and Asian Studies in protest of the institute’s hiring of a professor who has publicly supported abortion.

“I confirm that I have submitted my resignation to the University President, Provost, Dean of the Keio School, and current Leo Institute Director, and have relinquished my appointments as a Faculty Fellow and member of the Leo Institute Faculty Executive Committee yesterday,” said Diane A. Desierto, a professor of law and global affairs, told Fox News Digital in a statement on Wednesday.

Additionally, in a message obtained by Fox News Digital on Tuesday, Robert M. Gemello, Research Professor Emeritus of Theology, and Michael Hooks, director of the Liu Institute for Asian and Asian Studies at the University of Notre Dame, said he did not want to join the institute after Susan Osterman’s appointment.

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Fox News Digital obtained a letter from Robert M. Gimello, in which he stated that he no longer wanted to join the university. (Getty Images)

Notre Dame announced on January 8 Osterman, who attended university in 2017 as a professor of global affairs, and will assume her role as director of the Center for Asian Studies in July.

“Dear Michelle: It is with dismay and regret that I write to inform you that the recently announced appointment of your successor as director of the Leo Center compels me to resign my position as an honorary fellow of the Center,” Gemello wrote in the letter emailed to the Hawks on Monday.

“Please remove my name and photo from the Leo Institute’s list,” Gemello added. “I can only hope – and will pray – for a future in which the Institute fulfills its rightful role as a faithful instrument of our university. Catholic Mission“.

Gemello is not listed as an honorary fellow of the Leo Institute at his alma mater Biography pagebut other glimpses of Gimello List him He was also a colleague.

In 2022, Osterman Co-author an article Titled “Lies About Abortion Have Dictated Our Health Policy” with former Notre Dame professor Tamara Kay.

In the article, Osterman and Kay argued, “Approximately 90% of miscarriages occur during pregnancy The first ten weeks of pregnancy When there are no children or fetuses. “There are only blastocysts or embryos that are too small to be seen on abdominal ultrasound.”

They also called it a “lie” that abortion is dangerous, writing: “This could not be further from the truth. Research shows that abortion is safe and has no long-term effects on the body or health.” Mental health“.

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The University of Notre Dame campus with the Golden Dome, Sacred Heart Basilica and Washington Hall. (Aaron Yoder via Getty Images)

The authors also wrote that abortion “does not cause cancer, does not affect future fertility, and most people feel relief after the abortion and do not regret their decision. Up to 11 weeks, medical abortions are generally performed using mifepristone and misoprostol, which are safer than taking medication.” Tylenol“.

In another Article 2022 “Criminalizing abortion causes irreparable harm. In fact, it actually has the opposite political effect that anti-abortion advocates say they want: it can increase its impact,” wrote Osterman and Kay, published by Salon under the title “Forced pregnancy and childbirth are violence against women — and also terrible health policy.” Miscarriage ratesunintended pregnancy and infant mortality.”

Additionally, they wrote: “Access to abortion promotes freedom, in the truest sense of the word. Consistent with integral human development that emphasizes social justice and human dignity, access to abortion respects the inherent dignity of women, their freedom to make choices and to evaluate the medical and other risks associated with pregnancy and childbirth.”

Gemello told Fox News Digital in a statement that his resignation was motivated by Osterman’s public advocacy for abortion.

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Osterman and co-author Kay wrote that saying abortion is dangerous is a “lie,” writing, “This could not be further from the truth. Research shows that abortion is safe and has no long-term effects on physical or mental health.” (Istock)

“You may be right to assume that the main reason for my resignation is the sad fact that the administrators of the world’s preeminent Catholic university have chosen to appoint as director of the Liu Institute for Asian and Asian Studies a scholar who has repeatedly and publicly declared her opposition to the Catholic Church’s long-standing (sometimes bordering on contemptuous) teaching that the protection and nourishment of human life, from the moment of conception to natural death, is a sacred duty. It is a responsibility of the entire human community,” Gemello said.

He added: “To continue a formal association with a unit at the university led by such a person is, to me, unreasonable – and this is regardless of the significant talents and achievements the person appointed may bring to the job.”

Gemello also expressed concern that Osterman’s appointment might confuse those outside Notre Dame about the university’s commitment to Catholic identity.

“Moreover, I myself am a researcher whose work mainly focuses on Asia, in particular Religious and intellectual traditions in Asia“Both in itself and in comparison with Christianity,” he said. “The Liu Institute, for its part, is not only Notre Dame’s main body for the study of Asia; it is also the main channel for institutional relations with Asia. It is, as it were, the ‘Asian face’ of Notre Dame.”

Gemello said he is concerned that Osterman’s appointment will confuse those outside Notre Dame about the university’s commitment to Catholic identity. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

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“Questions and controversies regarding the nature and value of human life (not least questions regarding abortion, population control, euthanasia, etc.) are of course of central importance to the intellectual, religious and moral traditions of all Asian countries, especially in these turbulent and contentious times,” Gemello said.

“I therefore believe it is essential for Notre Dame’s Asian Outreach to faithfully represent to its interlocutors in Asian and Asian Studies the views of the Catholic Church on these fundamental matters,” he added. “I doubt that anyone so hostile or dismissive of these views—as this newly appointed figure clearly seems to be—even if she tried to silence her hostility, could do justice to Notre Dame’s Catholic endeavors in and around Asia. I now fear that this appointment will suggest to our Asian partners, and to Asian scholars at other institutions here and abroad, that Notre Dame is deeply at odds with the church it claims to represent in areas of higher education.”

Notre Dame told Fox News Digital that it stands by them Previous statement About the appointment of Osterman.

“Gemello retired from the Department of Theology in 2017 and has not been an active member of the Department of Theology or the Leo Institute since then. Until recently, he was listed as an honorary fellow of the Leo Institute as a professional courtesy,” a university affiliated representative said.

Fox News Digital I reached out to Osterman for comment.