MEET Our team
Our team is comprised of dedicated, hard-working pro-life individuals who are willing to get their hands dirty for the vulnerable every day. We’re a small but mighty group with decades of combined experience in the pro-life movement and a personal passion for the cause.
PRESIDENT
MARY KATE ZANDER
Mary Kate Zander is the president of Illinois Right to Life and Illinois Right to Life Action. Prior to her work in the pro-life movement, Mary Kate was an operative and communications advisor on numerous state and federal political campaigns. She has been quoted in the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, the New Yorker, the Washington Post, and has been featured on WGN, ABC-7, CBS, EWTN, and Fox News, among others. Mary Kate has spoken before thousands on the need for abortion restrictions in Illinois. She has presented to law and medical students at Northwestern University and to undergraduates at the University of Chicago, where she debated Professor Geoffrey Stone, who was a clerk on the Supreme Court when Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973. In August of 2022, she married her husband, Will. Together, they have three children.
LEGISLATIVE CHAIRMAN
Ralph Rivera
For over 30 years, Ralph has been on the front lines of the battle for life down in Springfield. After Roe v. Wade was decided on January 22, 1973, Ralph began his pro-life work in legislative and political matters. Over the years, Ralph has worked on hundreds of pieces of legislation, while testifying before numerous Senate and House committees and appearing on many Illinois television and radio programs. He has also worked closely with pro-life, constitutional attorneys and legislators to help craft pro-life legislation. As a matter of fact, Ralph lobbied on the first pro-life bill in Illinois that was successfully passed into law.
Ralph and his wife, Cindy, have been married for over 30 years and have six children.
Assistant to the Legislative Chairman
Molly Malone Rumley
Molly joined the team at Illinois Right to Life Action in 2018 after graduating from Moody Bible Institute. Before graduation, Molly served as the president of Zoe, Moody’s student pro-life group.
Molly has spent the last four years lobbying on behalf of Illinois Right to Life Action and was promoted to Assistant Legislative Chairman from Legislative Associate in 2021. Molly has been interviewed on the radio and in print regarding pending anti-life legislation and, in 2021, she testified in committees against anti-life legislation including the repeal of the Parental Notification of Abortion Act. Molly has also had the opportunity to conduct educational sessions for high school students regarding the importance of pro-life legislation.
This passionately pro-life young woman considers it a privilege to dedicate her time and talent to lobbying for life while representing the voice of the next pro-life generation in Springfield.
DATA MANAGEMENT
Jerry hinkleman
Jerry’s pro-life activity started several months after Roe v. Wade when his late wife Daena heard about a pro-life organization starting up in the Darien/Westmont/Downers Grove area. Together, the two started Illinois Citizens for Life’s newsletter, Lifeline. For decades, Jerry was ICL’s resident technology expert – managing the organization’s first donor database, printing and labeling newsletters, and, in later years, designing and updating the voter guide. Jerry continues to support Illinois Right to Life and Illinois Right to Life Action with use of his technical skills.
