Katelyn Walls Shelton

Writer · Bioethics · Women’s Health Policy

Katelyn Walls Shelton

On reproductive technology, the beginning of life, and what it means to be human.

Read her writing Speaking & press inquiries
Visiting Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center 2025–2026 Robert Novak Journalism Fellow Opinion contributor, WORLD
Katelyn Walls Shelton

Latest

New work

Technically Human · May 12, 2026

Snowflake No. 1

Hannah Strege, the first adopted frozen embryo in the world.

New York Times · Letter · Jun 18, 2026

On embryonic editing

Her response to “Breakthrough in Embryonic Editing Stirs Debate.”

Writing

Essays, op-eds & letters

Published in WORLD, The Dispatch, The Daily Wire, Washington Examiner, First Things, National Review, Christianity Today, Mere Orthodoxy, and elsewhere.

Full archives: WORLD · EPPC · Mere Orthodoxy · The Gospel Coalition

Media

Speeches & panels

Novak Fellowship acceptance speech

The Fund for American Studies Journalism Awards Dinner, New York · Watch on YouTube

Opening remarks: The Gene of the Law

Federalist Society National Convention · Legal Frontiers in Biotechnology · Watch on YouTube

Katelyn Walls Shelton speaking at The Fund for American Studies Journalism Awards Dinner
Accepting the Novak Fellowship, The Fund for American Studies Journalism Awards Dinner, Metropolitan Club, New York.
Katelyn Walls Shelton at the podium, The Fund for American Studies
Photo: The Fund for American Studies.

Podcasts & other appearances

Follow along

Substack & X

Technically Human is a yearlong exploration of the moral limits of emerging reproductive technologies, made possible by The Fund for American Studies’ Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship.

Media mentions

In the press

Coverage of and commentary on her work.

About

Biography

Katelyn Walls Shelton
  • AffiliationVisiting Fellow, EPPC Bioethics, Technology and Human Flourishing Program
  • Fellowship2025–2026 Robert Novak Journalism Fellow
  • Former roleSpecial Assistant for Global Women’s Health, U.S. HHS
  • EducationM.A.R. in Ethics, Yale Divinity School · dual B.A., Union University

Katelyn Walls Shelton is a Visiting Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center’s Bioethics, Technology and Human Flourishing Program. She is a women’s health policy expert and, as a 2025–2026 recipient of the Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship, is conducting a year-long research project on reproductive biotechnology and human nature.

As the former Special Assistant for Global Women’s Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Ms. Shelton assisted in executing the Protecting Life in Global Health Policy (PLGHP) initiative at the United Nations and World Health Organization. A former Paul Ramsey Bioethics Fellow, she often writes on women’s reproductive health and the beginning of life.

Katelyn received a master’s degree in ethics from Yale Divinity School and a dual bachelor’s degree from Union University. She’s an inaugural opinion contributor to WORLD Magazine and her work and commentary have appeared in a diverse range of outlets, including Fox News, The Gospel Coalition, Washington Examiner, Slate, and Mother Jones, among others.

She and her husband, John, live with their four young children near Washington, D.C.

Her EPPC page

Press photos

High-resolution headshots for event programs and publications. Please credit photographs as noted when known.

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Contact

Speaking, press & inquiries

For speaking invitations, interviews, and media requests, please reach out by email. Helpful details: event or outlet, date or timeframe, audience size, and location (or virtual).

She is also on X and Substack.