Need a Speaker on Life Issues?

Perhaps you are you looking for a speaker who can lead people to rethink their positions. Someone who can show them positive alternatives to violence--and engage them in defense of human life. Portrait photo of Mary MeehanMary Meehan, an experienced writer and public speaker, can do all of this. She urges students and others to defend life on every front.

"Why Liberals and Feminists Should Defend the Unborn" is her most popular topic. A variation, interesting to law students and many others, is: "Why Roe Must Go: A Liberal Case Against Roe v. Wade." She also offers "A Dozen Reasons to Oppose the Death Penalty," including ones that win support from conservatives. And she makes strong cases against war, suicide, and euthanasia.

Drawing on her many years of reporting and commentary, Meehan suggests practical approaches to "Changing Hearts and Minds." She highlights alternatives to violence: The work of pregnancy care centers in aiding women and their unborn children. Life imprisonment and reparation to victims' families, instead of execution, as the penalty for first-degree murder. Major improvements in nursing homes and in helping people with mental illness as alternatives to suicide and euthanasia. A restrained foreign policy and "strategic nonviolent action" as alternatives to war.

While stressing a positive approach, she realizes that life advocates must also face basic issues of power. Who has it? How is it used against the vulnerable, both at home and abroad? These questions lead to themes such as "Eugenics and the Power Elite."

Topics for her talks and workshops include the following. For a description of any talk, please go to Summaries and scroll down to the title you want.

Abortion

  • ACLU v. Unborn Children
  • Facing the Hard Cases
  • Lessons from the Anti-Slavery Movement
  • No Liberty Without Life: A Libertarian Case Against Abortion
  • Why Liberals and Feminists Should Defend the Unborn
  • Why Roe Must Go: A Liberal Case Against Roe v. Wade

Death Penalty

  • A Dozen Reasons to Oppose the Death Penalty
  • Life and Labor in Prison as an Alternative

Eugenics and Population Control

  • Eugenics and the Power Elite
  • Eugenics Triumphant in Prenatal Testing
  • What's Wrong with Population Control

Suicide and Euthanasia

  • A Garden of Eden for Seniors
  • Graceful Exits
  • Heading Euthanasia Off at the Pass
  • How to Outfox the Grim Reaper (suicide prevention)
  • Recapturing the Joy of Life

War

  • Antiwar Conservatives Make a Strong Case
  • How Flag Worship Leads to War
  • How Strategic Nonviolent Action Works
  • Just-War Standards and the Military Budget

Communicating Life Messages

  • Changing Hearts and Minds
  • How to Deal with the Media: Tips from a Journalist
  • Life or Death: Too Deep for Sound Bites?
  • Winning Friends and Saving Lives
  • Writing for Life

Links Among Life Issues

  • Building a Culture of Life
  • How to Build a Culture of Life on Campus
  • Let's Revisit the Consistency Ethic
  • Politicians and Life Issues
  • What One Person Can Do
  • Wouldn't You Prefer a Nonviolent Solution?

Other Topics

...can be developed on request. Nearly any article on this web site can be adapted for a talk, lecture, or workshop.


Personal Background: Mary Meehan was born in Washington, D.C...lived on a Maryland farm in early years...B.A. in history from Trinity College (now part of Trinity Washington University)...involved in anti-war campaigns of the late Senator Eugene McCarthy and others...later active against abortion and the death penalty...a professional writer for many years...now lives in Western Maryland--a fine place to write, hike in the mountains, and listen to bluegrass music.

Some Prior Speaking Engagements: American University; Aquinas College (Michigan); Arizona State University; Bryn Mawr College; Capital University; Christendom College; College of the Holy Cross; College of St. Benedict/St. John's Unversity; Cornell University; Feminists for Life; Furman University; George Washington University; Georgetown University (College and Law Center); Grinnell College; Harvard University; Illinois Wesleyan University; Loyola University Chicago; Manchester College; Marian University (Wisconsin); McGill University (Montreal); Millersville University; National Lawyers Association; North Carolina State University; Notre Dame Law School.

Also: Pennsylvania State University; Pennsylvania Students for Life; Princeton University; Rhode Island Pro-Life Conference; Right to Life of Michigan; Scholars for Social Justice; St. Louis University; Stanford University; Students for Life of America; Trinity Washington University; United for Life of Northern California; University of Akron; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; University of Maryland at College Park; University of Massachusetts Amherst; University of Michigan; University of New Hampshire; University of Oklahoma; University of Richmond School of Law; Valparaiso University School of Law; Washington University School of Law; Wheeling Jesuit University; Williams College.

Publications: Meehan's op-ed pieces have appeared in newspapers such as the Baltimore Sun, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Des Moines Register, La Crosse Tribune, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Newsday, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, and the Washington Post.

Her magazine and journal credits include America, Bibliophilos, Celebrate Life, Commonweal, Crisis, Harmony, Human Life Review, Inquiry, Journal of the Alleghenies, Mountain Discoveries, The Nation, The Progressive, Second Opinion, and Social Justice Review. She has contributed chapters to several books, including the anthology Consistently Opposing Killing (Praeger, 2008).

She has won two investigative-reporting awards for article series on eugenics and population control. In 2009 she received a Great Defender of Life award from the Human Life Foundation.

What They Say About Her

NATALIE FOHL, FOUNDER AND 2008-10 PRESIDENT, CHOOSE LIFE, McGILL UNIVERSITY (MONTREAL): "Thanks again for coming to McGill and for your excellent presentation! As you can see from the enclosed articles, it really got people thinking."

EMILY TURNER, 2007-08 CO-CHAIR, STUDENTS FOR LIFE, COLLEGE OF THE HOLY CROSS: "You were dynamic and provocative and just what we needed. We will continue to make good use of your articles and suggestions."

DAN HUGHES, 2006-08 PRESIDENT, PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE FOR LIFE, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY LAW CENTER: "Thank you so much for visiting Georgetown Law. Your talk was highly informative and insightful. The handouts will continue to be useful to us! Please stay in contact and let us know about any other engagements that you have in the DC area."

LAURA GRAHAM, 2006-07 CHAIR, COLONIALS FOR LIFE, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: "Thank you again for your wonderful talk last week. ...I will make sure the new board knows about you and your great work."

NAT HENTOFF, AUTHOR AND COLUMNIST: "As a frequent writer on life-and-death issues...I often rely on the writings and invaluable research of Mary Meehan. She is unequalled for her depth of knowledge and clarity of analysis. The 'culture of death' is gaining ever more adherents...Mary Meehan is an increasingly probing speaker in illuminating the fateful consequences of this direction--and how to reverse it."

REBECCA MESSALL, ATTORNEY AND PRO-LIFE ACTIVIST: "Meehan is brilliant. After you've heard her talk, it's as though she's switched a bright light on the impact of eugenics on our society."

MARIA McFADDEN, HUMAN LIFE REVIEW EDITOR: "Mary Meehan is unequalled in her field. Her articles for the Human Life Review have contained a great amount of fully-documented, original research into some of the most fascinating and important issues of our times. Her journalistic style is an editor's delight--clear, concise and compelling."

For More Information

Bio sketch, photo, and curriculum vitae available on request. Speaker's fee is moderate and negotiable. (Travel costs must be covered as well.) On just one campus visit, Meehan can give two major talks--plus classroom talks--with no extra charge. Please contact:


Ms. Mary Meehan
223 Race Street
Cumberland, Md. 21502
(301) 759-2992


Again, for more information on topics, please go to Summaries and scroll down to the titles you want.