Mary Rice Hasson

Kate O’Beirne Senior Fellow

Mary Rice Hasson, J.D., is the Kate O’Beirne Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., where she co-founded and directs the Person and Identity Project, an initiative that equips parents and faith-based institutions to promote the truth about the human person and counter gender ideology. An attorney and policy expert, Mary has been a keynote speaker for the Holy See during the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, addressing education, women and work, caregiving, and gender ideology, and serves as a consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family, Life and Youth.

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Mary Rice Hasson, J.D., is the Kate O’Beirne Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., where she co-founded and directs the Person and Identity Project, an initiative that equips parents and faith-based institutions to promote the truth about the human person and counter gender ideology. An attorney and policy expert, Mary has been a keynote speaker for the Holy See during the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, addressing education, women and work, caregiving, and gender ideology, and serves as a consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family, Life and Youth.

She speaks frequently at national conferences, universities, and in dioceses across the country, and has testified before the U.S. Senate, state legislatures, and the Australian parliament on parents’ rights and transgender issues.

The co-author of several books on education, Mary’s writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, National Review, First Things, the National Catholic Register and Our Sunday Visitor, among others.

She was honored by the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in 2023, and the Napa Institute in 2024, for promoting the truth with charity and courage.

A graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Notre Dame Law School, Mary is married to Seamus Hasson, and they are parents of seven grown children and grandparents of seven.


A note about the Person and Identity Project (PIP): The Person and Identity Project aims to equip parents and faith-based institutions with the facts, resources, and expertise to promote an authentic vision of the human person and to counter gender ideology.  PIP experts speak, write, and conduct workshops on gender ideology for churches, schools, parents, and faith-based organizations. See personandidentity.com


A note about the Catholic Women’s Forum: The Catholic Women’s Forum takes its inspiration from Pope St. John Paul II, who wrote that women have “the task of assuring the moral dimension of culture…a culture worthy of the person,” (Christifideles Laici, 51). The Catholic Women’s Forum provides a network for Catholic women scholars seeking fellowship and to influence the culture, and offers a forum for Catholic women to share faith, inspiration, and resources. See catholicwomensforum.org.


Recent publications:

Appellate brief in the 9th Circuit supporting challenge to Washington law effectively mandating “affirmation only” therapy for minors, December 16, 2021.

Bringing the Christ of Christmas to a Lost Generation,” Legatus Magazine, Dec 1, 2021

 “Erasing Females in Language and Law,” Journal of Christian Legal Thought, Christian Legal Society, Oct. 21, 2021.

Is It Emotional Abuse For Parents To Deny A Child’s Transgender Claims?” National Review Online, October 17, 2021.

Time for an Exodus from Public Schools?” Our Catholic Mission, Cardinal Newman Society, October 8, 2021.

The Equality Act and the End of Females,” Newsweek, February 24, 2021.

The Pope is Catholic After All,” co-author with Tim Busch, The Wall Street Journal, February 13, 2020.


Books and Book Chapters:

Chapter author, “Sexual Identity, Gender Ideology, and Religious Freedom: The Tug of War over ‘Who We Are,’ – Schools as Battlegrounds,” in the Handbook of Church and State, Shannon Holzer, ed. (New York, NY: Palgrave, expected publication fall 2022)

Co-author, with Theresa Farnan, PhD, of Get Out Now: Why You Should Pull Your Child From Public School Before It’s Too Late (Regnery: 2018)

Chapter author, “What About Sex: Habits of Heart for a Fulfilling Sexual Relationship and a Happy Marriage,” in Venus and Virtue: Celebrating Sex and Seeking Sanctification (2018).

Editor, Promise and Challenge: Catholic Women Reflect on Feminism, Complementarity, and the Church (Our Sunday Visitor: 2015)

Co-author, with Michele Hill, of the reportWhat Catholic Women Think About Faith, Conscience, and Contraception (EPPC 2012)

Co-author, with Kimberly Hahn of Catholic Education: Homeward Bound (Ignatius Press: 1996).


Selected Presentations and Interviews:

[See also the videos collected on the Person and Identity Project website]

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Votes, Quotas, and Titles: Missing the Point About Women

Mary Rice Hasson

Some synod interventions (or at least news reports of such interventions) that address women’s participation and leadership in the Church seem infected with mirror strains of an old feminist virus. 

Articles

First Things / October 21, 2019

Addressing the Wounds of Abortion

Mary Rice Hasson

While it is true that many women have experienced abortion, it is not true that it is their “best choice.” Many women who share this experience are dedicated to helping other women avoid making the same mistake.

Articles

Our Sunday Visitor / May 28, 2019

‘Gender-Inclusive Puberty’ Is The Latest Myth Peddled By Trans Activists

Mary Rice Hasson

Trans activists are now teaching that bodies follow patterns, not rules; sterilizing teens is no big deal; and that there are many pathways to adult bodies.

Articles

The Federalist / May 15, 2019

Most Catholic Kids in Public School Leave the Church

Mary Rice Hasson

One hour a week of religious education cannot possibly counter a child’s daily immersion in gender ideology. Parents, clergy, and Catholic philanthropists need to see what’s happening and enable all Catholic kids to receive a Catholic education.

Articles

Legatus Magazine / May 1, 2019

Testimony for the Synod

Mary Rice Hasson

Christian anthropology—once implicit in the culture of the West—has been widely displaced by an androgynous anthropology fundamentally incompatible with the Christian vision of the human person.

Articles

First Things / October 16, 2018

The Trans-Industrial Complex

Mary Rice Hasson

Gender ideology’s sweep through the culture is the culmination of strategies implemented years ago. The harm inflicted extends beyond the confused and suffering individuals ensnared by the “gender web” to the cultural and social institutions collapsing amidst anthropological deceit and moral chaos.

Articles

Humanum / October 15, 2018

How Low Can Self-Hating Feminists Go? As Michelle Wolf Shows, Today’s Feminism is Repulsive to…

Mary Rice Hasson

Michelle Wolf is the hip face of ugly, pink-hat feminism. She’s also a sad cultural meme embodying feminists’ self-loathing, degradation, and cruelty. The meme came to life in Saturday’s monologue.

Articles

The Daily Caller / May 8, 2018

Women Are the Heralds of ‘Humanae Vitae’

Mary Rice Hasson

Women seem to be unhappier now than in previous generations. They need to hear the truth about the contraceptive mentality, especially from other women.

Articles

National Catholic Register / April 4, 2018

Judge Who Removed Trans Teen From Parents Highlights What’s At Stake

Mary Rice Hasson

The Ohio case is not a ‘slam dunk’ validation of adolescent transgender transition or of gender experts, but neither is it good news for parents: it foreshadows a troubling future in which teens will be allowed to decide (without parental consent) to pursue gender transitions.

Articles

The Federalist / February 21, 2018

Pediatrician: Revealing Your Baby’s Sex Might Traumatize Him

Mary Rice Hasson

The medical establishment is losing its bearings. Caught in the twilight zone of transgender alt-reality, where hurt feelings matter more than hard science, America’s pediatricians see a new threat on the horizon – the ‘gender reveal’ phenomenon.

Articles

The Federalist / December 1, 2017

Illinois Purges Social Workers and Foster Families Who Don’t ‘Facilitate’ Transgenderism

Mary Rice Hasson

Illinois’s child welfare agency has proclaimed staff must ‘affirm’ gender ideology and ‘facilitate’ LGBT identities for kids—or be fired.

Articles

The Federalist / May 30, 2017

Threatening Violence, Trans Activists Expel Un-PC Research At Medical Conference

Mary Rice Hasson

The drama at a recent medical conference on care for transgender persons reveals a disturbing picture of a medical community unable or unwilling to exercise independent judgment in the face of trans rage.

Articles

The Federalist / February 27, 2017