CINCINNATI – A prominent longtime opponent of abortion has died in Cincinnati. Barbara Jean Willke was 90.

She died Sunday at a hospital; no cause of death was released immediately.

Willke co-authored the influential 1971 “Handbook of Abortion” with her husband, obstetrician John C. “Jack” Willke.

The book has shaped the thinking of generations of anti-abortion activists.

The Ohio-based anti-abortion group Faith2Action mourned the “mother of the Pro-Life movement” in a statement.

She and Willke were married 65 years and had six children, 22 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.


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