Notre Dame Professor’s Abortion Advocacy Forces Her Out of Leadership Role—But She Still Has a Job

An outspoken abortion advocate with a documented history of calling pro-life protections “violence” has been forced to abandon her planned ascent to a prestigious leadership position at America’s most prominent Catholic university.

Susan Ostermann won’t be taking the helm of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies at the University of Notre Dame after all. The associate professor’s appointment ignited a firestorm of opposition from students, faculty, Catholic leaders, and bishops who demanded the university live up to its professed Catholic identity.

The Keough School of Global Affairs Dean Mary Gallagher confirmed Ostermann’s withdrawal in a February 26 email. Ostermann had been scheduled to assume the directorship on July 1.

A Public Record That Couldn’t Be Ignored

Ostermann’s extensive writings on abortion proved impossible for the university to defend. She has publicly characterized abortion restrictions as acts of violence and rejected the fundamental truth that abortion destroys human life.

This isn’t some obscure academic whose private views leaked out. Ostermann built a public portfolio of abortion advocacy that directly contradicts Catholic teaching on the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death.

When Notre Dame announced her January appointment, the backlash was immediate and forceful. Two faculty members resigned from the Liu Institute in protest. Students organized prayer vigils and demonstrations. The message was clear: elevating an abortion advocate to leadership at a Catholic institution was a betrayal of mission.

A Bishop Steps In

The controversy reached its apex when Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend issued a scathing public rebuke. As the bishop whose diocese encompasses Notre Dame, Rhoades didn’t mince words.

He expressed “strong opposition” to Ostermann’s appointment and warned it was “causing scandal to the faithful of our diocese and beyond.” The bishop specifically cited her “extensive public advocacy of abortion” and her “disparaging and inflammatory remarks about those who uphold the dignity of human life from the moment of conception to natural death.”

Bishop Robert Barron publicly endorsed Rhoades’ statement, amplifying the episcopal opposition to Ostermann’s elevation.

On Tuesday, Bishop Rhoades led students, faculty, and staff in praying the rosary at Notre Dame’s Marian grotto “for the cause of life.” The visual was powerful: a Catholic bishop forced to lead prayers on a Catholic campus to defend Catholic teaching.

The Fight Isn’t Over

Pro-life leaders welcomed Ostermann’s withdrawal but emphasized that the job is unfinished.

Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, called the move “a good start” while making clear it falls short of what justice demands.

“It’s clear from her aggressively pro-abortion body of work, including her association with the Population Council, that she needs to be terminated,” Hawkins declared. “The premier Catholic school in America should not allow professors to blatantly oppose central teachings on the value of all human life, including babies in the womb. Her elevation was extremely troubling, but stepping down is not enough. She needs to go.”

That position reflects a growing unwillingness among faithful Catholics to accept institutional compromise on non-negotiable moral principles.

Mary FioRito, a senior fellow at The Catholic Association, praised the reversal as “a win for consistency, clarity, and common sense” while crediting the sustained pressure campaign.

“As an explicitly Catholic university, Notre Dame owes its students and faculty truth in advertising,” FioRito said, arguing that “Ostermann’s public advocacy of legal abortion would have overshadowed the good work of the Liu Center and significantly hampered its ability to form students.”

The Credibility Question

Notre Dame publicly describes itself as an institution where “Catholic character” informs everything it does. That claim becomes meaningless if the university elevates vocal opponents of core Catholic teaching to positions of authority and influence.

This controversy exposes the tension at the heart of many Catholic institutions: the desire to maintain academic respectability in elite circles while preserving authentic Catholic identity. Too often, Catholic identity loses that battle.

The Church’s teaching on abortion isn’t ambiguous or negotiable. Human life is sacred from conception to natural death. Direct abortion is a grave moral evil. Pope Leo XIV recently described abortion as “the greatest destroyer of peace,” echoing the late Mother Teresa’s unflinching witness to life.

St. John Paul II’s apostolic constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae provides the framework for Catholic higher education. It calls on Catholic universities to safeguard their identity while exercising academic freedom within the bounds of faith and reason. Appointing an abortion advocate to lead an institute doesn’t balance those imperatives—it abandons them.

What Ostermann Said

In her statement, Ostermann claimed she accepted the directorship solely to serve the institute’s faculty and students. She suggested the controversy risked overshadowing the institute’s work and said Notre Dame needs to build “a community where a variety of voices can flourish.”

That framing reveals the problem. Some “voices” don’t deserve to flourish at a Catholic university, particularly those advocating for the destruction of innocent human life. A Catholic institution that treats support for abortion as just another acceptable viewpoint isn’t Catholic in any meaningful sense.

Ostermann remains on Notre Dame’s faculty as an associate professor. That continued employment raises the same fundamental questions her failed appointment provoked.

Sustained Pressure Works

Student organizers made clear that demonstrations and prayer events will continue. They’re treating Ostermann’s withdrawal as proof that sustained, faithful pressure produces results—not as a reason to declare victory and go home.

That instinct is sound. The forces pushing Catholic institutions toward accommodation and compromise don’t rest. Neither can those committed to preserving authentic Catholic identity.

The Notre Dame controversy demonstrates that faithful Catholics can still successfully defend institutional integrity when they refuse to accept betrayal as inevitable. Alumni spoke up. Students organized. Faculty resigned in protest. A bishop exercised his teaching authority. The cumulative pressure forced a reversal.

The question now is whether Notre Dame will learn the right lesson. Will the university recognize that its Catholic identity isn’t optional window dressing but the foundation of its mission? Or will administrators view this episode as a temporary setback before returning to business as usual?

The answer will determine whether Notre Dame remains a Catholic university in substance or merely in branding.