Christine Flowers
By Christine FlowersNational Right to Life
I’ve never been a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association, even though I was once on the editorial board of its professional journal, the Philadelphia Lawyer Magazine. But I never chose to pay dues and officially align myself with the association because, when I started practicing law in the early 1990s, it was clear there was no place for me at the table, let alone the “bar.”
As a conservative woman who believed abortion was both immoral and legally indefensible, it was impossible to feel welcomed or respected in an organization that had become increasingly left-leaning. This did not surprise me. Even my Catholic alma mater, the one with the crucifixes in the classrooms, wasn’t outspoken in its advocacy for the unborn.
In an email news release, the association said Tracy was chosen for the award because she has led “major legal victories on the national scale in women’s reproductive rights, violence against women, and other areas of women’s rights, including serving as co-counsel in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Planned Parenthood v. Casey.”
As a conservative woman who believed abortion was both immoral and legally indefensible, it was impossible to feel welcomed or respected in an organization that had become increasingly left-leaning. This did not surprise me. Even my Catholic alma mater, the one with the crucifixes in the classrooms, wasn’t outspoken in its advocacy for the unborn.
I recall a constitutional law class in which the teacher sped through the landmark Roe v. Wade decision as if he were embarrassed to focus on the ethics of killing what many of us considered babies.
I haven’t given thought to the bar association these past few years. They do their thing, I do mine. For example, at 11 a.m. Tuesday, I’ll be speaking at a rally in the state Capitol rotunda in Harrisburg in support of pro-life legislation, such as Senate Bill 3, which would ban abortions after 20 weeks (they currently are permitted until 24 weeks) and criminalize dismemberment abortions. The rally also will support the defunding of Planned Parenthood, which is the nation’s single most prolific provider of abortions.
That’s my thing, which I doubt will interest many of the people who paid $65 a head to attend a reception at the Bellevue on Friday honoring Carol Tracy, executive director of the Women’s Law Project.
I haven’t given thought to the bar association these past few years. They do their thing, I do mine. For example, at 11 a.m. Tuesday, I’ll be speaking at a rally in the state Capitol rotunda in Harrisburg in support of pro-life legislation, such as Senate Bill 3, which would ban abortions after 20 weeks (they currently are permitted until 24 weeks) and criminalize dismemberment abortions. The rally also will support the defunding of Planned Parenthood, which is the nation’s single most prolific provider of abortions.
That’s my thing, which I doubt will interest many of the people who paid $65 a head to attend a reception at the Bellevue on Friday honoring Carol Tracy, executive director of the Women’s Law Project.
Tracy is this year’s recipient of the Sandra Day O’Connor award, which the bar association presents to a female attorney “who has demonstrated superior legal talent, achieved significant legal accomplishments, and has furthered the advancement of women in both the profession and the community.”
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