Washington, DC - One of the pro-choice movement's most senior leaders, Frances Kissling, is stepping down as president of Catholics for a Free Choice.

With 37 years of professional involvement in the field, Kissling is one of the most knowledgeable and experienced international advocates of choice. Her career began as the director of one of the country's first legal abortion clinics in New York City in 1970 and has included founding and heading the National Abortion Federation and 25 years as president of CFFC.

Kissling's strongest commitment is to public funding for reproductive health, including abortion, and she is the co-author of Rosie: The Investigation of a Wrongful Death which chronicles the first and only reported death from abortion following the U.S. government's decision to cut off federal funds for abortion in 1977.

Kissling has led CFFC through numerous controversies with church officials. Predominantly, these have related to the right to be Catholic while disagreeing with church positions on contraception, abortion, gay rights and stem cell research. Under her direction and with an extraordinarily talented staff, CFFC has grown into one of the largest church reform groups in the world with partner organisations in six Latin American countries, Canada and Spain, and representation in the United Nations and at the European parliament.

She is best known as a spirited and witty critic of the Catholic Church and fierce defender of women's moral integrity and reproductive choice. Under her leadership, The "See Change" Campaign, which criticizes the Holy See's special designation at the U.N., and the Condoms4Life campaign, which focuses on the Vatican's refusal to permit condom use in AIDS-ravaged countries, have turned a critical and very public eye on Vatican policies, especially those that prove detrimental to women in poor and developing countries.

Kissling is a prolific writer with more than 120 op-eds and articles published in mainstream international media from the New York Times to the Guardian, as well as chapters in a number of books. While intending to remain active in international reproductive health matters, Kissling now wants to concentrate on writing about the core values and strategies that can convince pro-choice and pro-life Americans about the importance of preserving legal abortion.

Kissling said, "I have never shied away from controversy or speaking my mind, but I deeply believe the next years in reproductive rights politics must be a time when we build bridges between those who are pro-choice and those who are pro-life. Ending the abortion wars is the task of those of us who have fought them."

Kissling will be honoured at a tribute on March 2 in Washington, DC, which will feature noted author Anna Quindlen, Representative Rosa DeLauro, Global Fund for Women President Kavita Ramdas and Sara Seims of the Hewlett Foundation. The event is chaired by Kissling's closest colleagues and friends, Kate Michelman, former president of NARAL Pro-choice America, and Marysa Navarro-Aranguren, the chair of CFFC's board of directors.

According to Michelman, "This event is very exciting. It will bring together hundreds of the most significant actors in the struggle for reproductive rights from more than 20 countries."

Navarro noted: "The CFFC board has worked closely with Frances and CFFC's executive vice president Jon O'Brien in ensuring a smooth transition. We were determined to do it right, both to honour Frances and to find and welcome a new president.

"We are pleased to announce the appointment of Jon O'Brien as the new president of Catholics for a Free Choice. He will not just continue what is great about CFFC, but will also be a force in the church and society for women's reproductive health and rights."