Watchdog group claims some Catholic universities promote pro-abortion internships

Jun 17, 2009 / 00:18 am

At least ten Catholic colleges and universities are promoting student internships with organizations whose missions or actions are directly opposed to Catholic morals, the Cardinal Newman Society charges. Some internships are with organizations that promote abortion or homosexual issues and include possible work in abortion “clinic defense.”

According the Cardinal Newman Society (CNS), a Catholic higher education organization, a web page at Boston College lists as “Non-Profit Internship Sources” two pro-abortion groups, the Feminist Majority Foundation and the National Organization for Women.

A Boston College Law School website recommends the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, ACLU-Massachusetts and the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders as opportunities for “pro bono” legal work. The latter two organizations advocate homosexual “marriage.”

The Georgetown Law School, following a 2007 policy change, allows students to receive university funding for interning at abortion advocacy organizations, CNS reports. A student had been refused funding for an internship at Planned Parenthood, but protests from pro-abortion students and faculty successfully changed the policy.

The Gender and Women’s Studies department at the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University in Minnesota promotes internship opportunities with groups including the Feminist Majority Foundation. Its intern responsibilities include “clinic defense.” CNS believes this most likely means efforts to oppose pro-life protesters at abortion clinics.

DePaul University’s Women’s and Gender Studies program notes that students have interned with Planned Parenthood and the Chicago Women’s Health Center, which offers “emergency contraceptive” services and “alternative insemination” for single women, lesbian couples and others.

Loyola University of Chicago’s Women’s Studies and Gender Studies website lists internship and volunteer opportunities for pro-abortion groups such as Chicago National Organization for Women, the Feminist Majority Foundation, Planned Parenthood and the Chicago Abortion Fund.

The University of San Francisco’s Media Studies program promotes internships at Girlfriends Magazines, which is a lesbian publication, as well as the California Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League.

Additionally, the University of Notre Dame’s Gender Studies Program in 2008 funded a student’s internship at the National Organization for Women in Washington, D.C.

Other institutions mentioned by the CNS include St. Edward’s University in Texas and St. Norbert College in Wisconsin.

Patrick J. Reilly, CNS President, said the information validates concerns that public scandals at Catholic colleges are “just the tip of the iceberg.”

“Under what definition of ‘Catholic education’ do students receive academic credit to work for leading pro-abortion organizations?” he asked.

CNS says it wrote to the presidents of the colleges and universities to inform them of the internship programs, reporting that none have yet indicated that they will take action.

The organization added that these internship programs help explain why a recent survey showed most students and recent graduates of Catholic institutions believe that abortion and homosexual “marriage” should be legal, despite Catholic teaching.