Speakers Bureau
If you would like to have a pro-life speaker at your next event or meeting, please look over the list of speakers/topics and contact West Virginians for Life via email at info@wvforlife.org or by calling 304-594-9845 to make arrangements. You are responsible for paying for the speaker’s travel expenses. For a printout of the Speakers Bureau List, click here.
All of these speakers are prepared to speak without any speaker’s fee. However, they must be reimbursed for all of the expenses of traveling to give a speech. Be sure to discuss these arrangements with any potential speaker.
Mary Anne Buchanan, West Virginians for Life (WVFL) Office Manager and Political Action Committee (PAC) Treasurer, graduated from Penn State University with a B.A. in Speech Communications. After an 8-year career as a radio announcer in the 1980’s for WPQR in Uniontown, PA and then WVAQ and WAJR in Morgantown, she opted to be a full-time mother and homemaker until 2005 when she rejoined the workforce. She is currently enjoying semi-retirement and less stress at the WVFL office as the office manager. Mary Anne has been involved with her local Monongalia County Chapter of West Virginians for Life since 1985 and held every office at various times since then. She was named WVFL’s Angel of the Year in 2009. She resides in Morgantown with her husband, retired attorney and former pro-life Delegate Mike Buchanan. Together they dote on their two grandsons (ages 4 and 2.5).
Topics: Personal testimony about her own abortion and how to be an overcomer • How to Save Babies with Social Media
Lacey Evans is a 2010 graduate of Marshall University with a degree in Secondary Education. She attended the National Right to Life Academy in the summer of 2009 along with nine other college-age students. At the Academy, she received in-depth training on the issues and strategy of the pro-life movement. She has given pro-life presentations at West Virginians for Life Conventions and at youth events. She is currently the state president of West Virginians for Life and president of Tucker County Right to Life. She is employed as a business education teacher in Tucker County.
Topics: Legal and legislative issues relating to abortion and euthanasia • Planned Parenthood
• The Living Will • Damage caused to women, men and families following abortion
Wanda Franz, Ph.D., is executive director of West Virginians for Life (WVFL). She has been involved in the right-to-life movement since joining the West Virginia University Right to Life Club in 1971. Dr. Franz served as President of WVFL for 15 years and as President of National Right to Life for 20 years. Dr. Franz also served as President of the Association for Interdisciplinary Research in Values and Social Change and has represented the Association at congressional hearings on post-abortion syndrome. Dr. Franz is a developmental psychologist and professor emerita of child development at West Virginia University. Dr. Franz has served as a consultant to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs. She has co-authored a textbook on early child development. Dr. Franz has written chapters on adolescents, and the cognitive implications of arguments regarding abortion. Dr. Franz has spoken on abortion and euthanasia across the United States and internationally. She also made presentations at the United Nations NGO (non-governmental organizations) conferences. She has been awarded an honorary doctor of law degree from the University of Scranton and an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from the Franciscan University of Steubenville. She received the Defense of Life Award given by the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation and a lifetime achievement award from West Virginians for Life. She is married to Gunter Franz (deceased); they have three children, twelve grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.
Topics: Legal and legislative issues relating to abortion and euthanasia • Fetal development and fetal pain • Adolescent abortion and parents’ right to know • Damage caused to women, men and families following abortion
Lorrie Mullins was placed for adoption at five days old. Her testimony is the value of life. From being adopted, to becoming a pregnant teen who had a God encounter while laying on an abortion clinic table, her life goal is to be the person she needed when she walked alone into the clinic. Not aborting her baby, she shares her miracle moment and her determination to not become a statistic. Her story tells of how one decision for life can change the world. Lorrie is the proud mother of two sons (who are a Police Officer and a retired NFL player) and her daughter who is a military wife and stay at home mother of three. Lorrie is also grandmother to seven.
Topic: Personal testimony which supports adoption and the need to help those contemplating abortion to choose a better option
Deborah Sturm, MA, RN, was born in Wheeling, WV and grew up in New Martinsville, WV. She has an extensive background in healthcare—eighteen years of experience in the field of radiologic technology, and nine years of hospital experience in the field of nursing. She is also a veteran of the United States Army Reserves. Her nursing background includes long-term care, adult behavioral medicine, and geriatric psychiatry. She holds a master’s degree in counseling from the Franciscan University of Steubenville. She has published articles—mostly in the area of bioethics–in the Journal of Christian Nursing, Crisis Magazine, Lay Witness, the Catholic Social Science Review, and in PulseLine, the official newsletter of the National Association of Pro-Life Nurses. Her bioethical articles can also be found on the website, Children of God for Life (www.cogforlife.org) and LifeIssues.net (www.lifeissues.net). She has written about futile care policies, living wills, abortion, the nursing profession from a Catholic perspective, the dilemmas and rights of pro-life healthcare providers, and ethical problems of organ donation. She served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Pro-Life Nurses from 2006 to 2013. She lost her husband Michael in 2012 after an extensive battle with cancer and, as a result, gained an understanding and appreciation of hospice care. She currently resides in Friendly, West Virginia.
Topics: Living wills and advance directives • Ethical problems of organ donation • Futile care policies in healthcare • Dilemmas and rights of pro-life healthcare providers • End of life issues • Physician-assisted suicide
Mary Hencke Tillman, J.D., is a 1976 graduate of University of Maryland, College Park in Speech Pathology and a 1981 graduate of University of Maryland School of Law. She practiced law until the birth of her third child when she elected to stay home with her children, eventually homeschooling six. She has been active in the right to life movement for over three decades, first becoming involved in testifying against a liberal pro-abortion bill in Maryland. She has served on the board of Life Choice Pregnancy Resource Center in Clarksburg; as the Secretary for the Harrison County Chapter of WVFL; and as Vice President for WVFL. Mary is currently the Legislative Coordinator for the WV Alliance for Ethical Health Care, a subcommittee of WVFL which seeks to change laws and policies to protect the lives of elderly and disabled persons. Mary sings in the choir of her parish; St. Patrick Catholic Church in Weston; teaches piano lessons; and enjoys community theater. She resides in Lost Creek with Mike, her husband of 44 years, who retired from being CEO of United Hospital Center in 2022. They are blessed with five grandchildren, and another on the way.
Topics: End of Life Issues • Living Will