After 43 years, 'unflappable' Right to Life of Michigan president Listing steps down

A giant in Michigan's pro-life movement for half a century, Barbara Listing succeeded by Grand Rapids' Amber Roseboom

GRAND RAPIDS — When Barbara Listing joined Right to Life of Michigan in 1973, she never imagined she would become president of the pro-life nonprofit for 43 years.

The Shepherd, Michigan, native wanted to get involved in the pro-life movement shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court released its Roe v. Wade decision that year. Michigan voters had just rejected a ballot measure that would liberalize the state’s abortion laws in 1972, so Listing and her colleagues felt it wouldn’t take much convincing for people to acknowledge the horrors of abortion.

“In the early days, many of us thought, ‘Well, will give of our time and our resources for a short period of time,’ because once we really are able to show our fellow citizens the humanity of that unborn child, we’ll be able to go back to our regular lives,” Listing, now 82, told Detroit Catholic.

That "short time" for Listing turned into 51 years with Right to Life of Michigan — 43 as president — leading legislative fights, endorsing pro-life political candidates, speaking for the unborn and the chronically ill and being a stalwart defender of life.

Listing stepped down as president Jan. 1 in favor of Grand Rapids resident Amber Roseboom, Listing’s handpicked successor who spent the past year shadowing Listing as vice president of operations for Right to Life of Michigan.

“Throughout the years, I mentally had a list of possible people that would be my choice," Listing said. “Amber Roseboom was always on that list. Amber worked with us back in 1997, (before) she and her husband moved to the D.C. area. Amber and I kept in touch occasionally throughout the years. When I got serious about finding a replacement, I talked to Amber about the possibility of her and her husband coming back to Michigan.”

Roseboom, a parishioner of St. Adalbert Basilica in Grand Rapids, initially joined Right to Life of Michigan in 1997 and participated in the group's opposition to defeat a physician-assisted suicide ballot initiative in 1998.

She moved to Washington, D.C., with her husband, Tim, where she published pro-life editorials in the Washington Post and Washington Times, and worked as a political appointee in President George W. Bush's administration, as a member of the transition team between the Bush and Obama administrations, and as a communication and strategic planning expert at nonprofit and private sector endeavors.

Before returning to Right to Life of Michigan in 2022, Roseboom was associate vice president of communications for The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Prior to that, she was director of media relations for the Diocese of Arlington.

Roseboom takes the reins of Right to Life of Michigan after the pro-life movement suffered a setback with the passage of Proposal 3 in 2022, which enshrined abortion rights into the state constitution, and a flurry of pro-abortion policy decisions made by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Democrat-control legislature last year.

“Undeniably, we (the pro-life movement) are at a juncture,” Roseboom told Detroit Catholic. “You saw the pro-life movement after the overturning of Roe, the pro-life movement nationally looking to get its footing following recent defeats in Virginia and Ohio.

“We need to chart a hopeful path forward that invites women to make a courageous choice for life that they won’t regret and be clear in telling a story of how that choice can pave the way to joy and dreams in new and rewarding ways they could have never imagined,” Roseboom added. “And that is what we’re looking to do here in Michigan.”

Charting a path forward amidst challenges has been the order of the day during Listing’s tenure as president, including battles against physician-assisted suicide, maintaining parental permission for a minor to get an abortion, and fighting against Medicaid-funded abortions.

“Looking back, the one achievement — and it wasn’t just me, it was the whole movement — the one that saved the most lives, unborn children, would be back in 1988, when we were able to finally end the use of tax dollars for Medicaid abortions,” Listing said. “We estimate at least 300,000 are alive today because of that law. Another companion law we were able to pass through an initiative process was the parental consent law. We’ve seen abortion among teens drop over the years, because of that law.”

The president of Right to Life of Michigan answers to the Right to Life of Michigan state board, which elects the president every year. Since 1988, it has been a full-time, paid position.

Listing reflects on how much technology, especially around communications, has changed since she became president in 1980, in both speaking to fellow pro-lifers and reaching out to the media, and how much more connected Right to Life of Michigan’s 83 statewide affiliates are today.

“But what hasn’t changed — despite the defeat with Proposal 3 — is the dedication of the pro-lifers,” Listing said, “the people across Michigan who just know there has to be a better choice for women. We have to find ways to provide women with another choice besides abortions. We have to find ways to show the life choice is the desirable choice.”

Today, Right to Life of Michigan is looking to harness the power of countless volunteers at the state’s pregnancy resource centers to support women in need of help carrying their babies to term as well as supporting mothers after birth, along with organizing activists to speak out against harmful legislation, such as efforts to repeal parental permission for a minor to get an abortion and recently introduced measures to legalize physician-assisted suicide.

“On the legislative front, we’ve seen Democrats (in the state legislature) introduce four bills in the late fall to legalize physician-assisted suicide,” Roseboom said. “Yet again, it’s reared its ugly head. It wasn’t long ago when Jack Kevorkian, known as Dr. Death, was the poster child of physician-assisted suicide in our state and beyond. Now proponents are using nice-sounding language like ‘medical aide in dying,’ but it’s all same. It’s one of the biggest threats posed to the disadvantaged, the minority community, those with disabilities, the chronically ill, who will be presented with this 'cheaper' option, instead of actual health care.”

Right to Life of Michigan is also one of 16 plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenge central elements of Proposal 3 on federal constitutional grounds, emphasizing the proposal’s language violates five claims under the U.S. Constitution.

The lawsuit specifically claims Proposal 3 causes harm to pregnant women as a class by exempting them from legal protections afforded to other classes of individuals in violation of the equal protections guarantee of the 14th Amendment; deprives parents of their right to direct the upbringing and education of their minor children regarding “reproduction;” violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment by overriding any objection on religious ground in endorsing or providing an abortion; deprives preborn babies of the right to life without due process of law, in violation of the 14th amendment; and creates a super-right to “reproductive freedom” that remains immune from any legislative action, in violation of the Guarantee Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Roseboom said the lawsuit will be drawn out and take months — or perhaps years — to settle, which is why the organization is busy mobilizing its affiliate branches in the buildup to the 2024 election, which will see Michiganians cast votes for U.S. president, a U.S. Senate seat, 13 congressional races and 110 Michigan State House races.

“Right to Life of Michigan has 83 affiliates across the state and thousands of volunteers,” Roseboom said. “We will be intensely focused on electing candidates who stand for life, candidates who confidently support their record of protecting life and leading in this new era of messaging that reaches women and voters who might not already be with us, but inclined to a message that supports, rather than cuts off life.”

Reflecting on her time as president of Right to Life of Michigan, Listing — who will still be on the state board of directors — said all the battles, late-night strategy meetings and drives to affiliates across the state were worth it.

“Working with any organization, especially a grassroots organization, you know the people who make the movement work,” Listing said. “Some people on the initial board of directors when I joined in 1973 are still there; you see that dedication. I think anyone who has been involved in this fight knows, our personal, religious faith is very important to us. We do our work because we know it is the right thing to do.”

Roseboom says she couldn’t have had a better mentor than Listing. She is quick to tell people she can't fill Listing’s shoes, but will do everything she can to build on the legacy of a titan in the pro-life movement.

“Barb is unflappable,” Roseboom said. “She has a deep, abiding faith. The most important thing in seeking to fulfill the duties of this role is to continue to prioritize and foster the growth of my own faith. I truly believe that is the most critical thing.

"The pro-life movement is at the heart of the church," Roseboom added. "What I’ve learned from Barb is how to focus on the mission, focus on the goals, regardless of the outside pressure of what people may say or see. Serve the affiliates and volunteers and be optimistic and joyful. Success isn’t always what we think it will look like, but we’ve been called to serve.”