On Friday, August 7, the Women's Equality Day Reformed Committee presented another excellent program in anticipation of the 89th anniversary of women's suffrage on August 26. Speakers focused on the theme - "Feminine Dignity at the Crossroads - The Call of Conscience". Theresa Bonopartis, post abortive mother and Director of Lumina Hope and Healing After Abortion ([email protected] and http://postabortionhelp.org ), and co-director of the Hudson Valley Coalition for Life, was honored as woman of the year. Teacher, adoptive mother of two boys, graphic designer and activist Brigid Faranda was keynote speaker. Brigid spoke about her personal decision of conscience to risk arrest during the Notre Dame demonstrations in South Bend, Indiana, on May 17, her incarceration with four others from our area - "The South Bend Five" - and their ongoing legal actions. A transcript of the day follows.
WEDR Committee member Judy Anderson's opening remarks:
Our Women’s Equality Day Reformed Committee welcomes you and
thanks you for taking time to be with us to celebrate as we anticipate
the 89th anniversary of women’s voting rights on August 26th! Don’t
you agree that there is something about our American History that
has the power to energize and motivate us? Well this year we will look
at the 2nd part of our “Feminine Dignity at the Crossroads” theme
with the rallying focus, “The Call of Conscience”.
We would now like to introduce someone whose annual sponsorship
allows us this space under equal access and free speech. He is a
lawyer and life-long Yonkers resident - the Honorable
Gordon A. Burrows of the County Board’s District 15. Will you say
a few words to us…Thank you, Gordon.
Our previous sponsor Robert Astorino, the prolife candidate for
Westchester County Executive this November, was also to join us
but he is in Jackson Hole, WY at the invitation of the RNC. He tells
us he is one of five candidates from across the country that they are
spotlighting this year! He sends us his best, and we wish him success.
Also with us is author Susan Konig. Susan, a memorable keynote
speaker four years ago at Women’s Equality Day Reformed, is
running for a County Board seat in November in District 9. Thank
you for your willingness to serve, Susan!
Invocation by the Rev. Lynn Harrington.
Regina Riely of our Committee will lead us in the Pledge and
Anthem. Please stand.
(Judy continues)
Most of you know that in 2006 Carol Crossed, President of the
Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum, purchased the original
Anthony house in Adams, Massachusetts and the museum’s
renovations are really progressing with an open house expected
in September. The Museum will include a pro life exhibit. This
historical restoration has become a metaphor for Women’s
Equality Day Reformed because it is now “re-formed from its
pro-choice-only days to the original intention of the suffragettes’
concept of equality.” Let’s all try to participate with Carol in this
great prolife undertaking in some small way and hopefully with a
donation, small or large, if possible. Their website is
www.susanbanthonybirthplace.com and information is available
on our tables.
(WEDR Committee member Regina Riely continues)
Carol’s inspiring efforts also remind us of the previous recipients
of our Mott-Stanton-Anthony award:
Mildred Fay Jefferson, M.D. - surgeon, political activist & educator;
Lisa Marrero, M.D. - physician, Elinor Martin Residence counselor;
Dorothea Muccigrosso - educator, multi-cultural motivator;
The Domincan Sisters of Hawthorne at Rosary Hill Home –
generous faith and palliative end-of-life caregivers;
Christine Mortell-Plazas - prolife courage and women’s interracial
business collaborator;
Gabrielle Long Wright - midwife and Natural Family Planning
instructor;
Rev. Geneva Patterson – pastor, worker and friend in service to
incarcerated women and the community;
and today’s honoree,
Theresa Bonopartis – professional woman and advocate for post
abortive women and men
Most of you know that Mott, Stanton and Anthony were involved
with the abolitionist and temperance movements. Their collective
conscience drove their fight and one kind of moral order soon
translated into striving for women’s right to vote. At this crossroads
they chose a path – a new direction - that decision initiated the
American feminist movement.
Since all just law is based on natural law, it demanded the equality
of women as citizens at the voting booth. These early feminists
challenged the laws that excluded them. Their words that sought
to elevate women and protect the vulnerable child in the womb.
Prolife feminism is an authentic part of our American history!
Women are still fighting - now for our Constitutional protections
of conscience against unjust abortion laws - and new forced
abortion mandates, blatant in the current healthcare reform bill,
FOCA and NYS’s Reproductive Health Act. Just reported is the
story of Catherina Cenzon-DeCarlo, a Filipino nurse at Mt. Sinai
who is currently suing for being forced to assist in a late term
abortion against her conscience, her faith, and her expressed
wishes upon employment. We also have women like Theresa
and Brigid who are fighting alongside others daily with the
fallout of more than 35 years of “legal” abortion.
Susan, Elizabeth, and Lucretia fought long and hard against
the status quo. The protest for full citizenship meant they
were on the opposite side of conventional thought and judicial
interpretation of the law. Women’s second-class status allowed
them to testify in court and be represented if accused of a
crime, but refused them the vote. Their peaceful assembly to
protest their lack of suffrage was troublesome. If they held firm
to their conscience dictates, they were sometimes charged and
jailed for disturbing the peace. When they protested that they
were merely exercising their 1st Amendment rights, they risked
being charged with resisting arrest.
This is our perfect segue to our keynote speaker, Brigid Faranda,
who Judy will now introduce to you all.
Brigid’s talk. Thank you, Brigid.
(Judy reads honoree Theresa’s bio)
Theresa’s talk . Thank you, Theresa.
Brigid reads and presents award to Theresa
Judy presents roses on behalf of the HVCL
(Sending by Judy)
Thank you, Theresa and Brigid. Eighty-nine years later,
36 years after Roe, this is again a year of daunting cross-
roads for women.
It might seem that Theresa and Brigid exemplify the
anything-but- ordinary expression of feminine dignity
and activism based on conscience. They both have great
courage, it is true; and yes, they are in the eye of the
public unlike most of us, but they are simply two women
who have stood at the crossroads, like all of us must.
They are true heroines whose personal stories teach us
lessons about the fight for right and for the dignity of all.
What do I mean? Today we see the greatness of women,
yet we still see women suffering. For example, while the
numbers of incarcerated women in New York have
decreased recently, the numbers across the U.S. have
increased. Women give birth in prison in many cases in
shackles, a practice being fought by human rights groups,
and hopefully, maybe you. Take time to read the Women
in Prison fact sheet available on the tables. Consider
helping a woman find dignity through the Hudson Link,
an organization that offers prisoners educational opportunities.
On the global front women are forcibly sterilized and destroyed
in great numbers, In China alone there is a total of more than
13 million abortions each year, most aimed at female children.
Women in the Congo today are routinely victims of heinous
crimes against humanity, with rape and torture, mutilation and
death, reaching genocidal proportions. Who is defending their
cause, their dignity?
True feminism recognizes the need for change, as well as a
moral order that is changeless. The axiom, “The hand that
rocks the cradle rules the world,” signals that the world-
rocking power of women should eagerly be connected to
her intimate role as mother – not discarded and of no more
importance than dumping trash! As the first guardians of
life women possess a power and responsibility that go beyond
self. It is a daunting challenge, without doubt, but one that
our feminist foremothers saw not as an impediment to personal
fulfillment, but as the ultimate expression of it. So should we
all. Motherhood is a role that demands understanding and
support. Abortion is not healthcare, it is the absence of care…
for the child and the mother. Never confuse the two.
I send you to pray, to march, to speak and write, to give witness
and support in the public square. Reflect on what it means to be
a woman, and share yourselves with others with a feminine dignity
that is your unique gift of self to the world, and thank you for
continuing this remarkable American tradition of prolife feminism,
Women’s Equality Day Reformed.
Now, we will close with Benediction offered by Sister Mary McCaffrey.
