A Brookline activist and author said an offer she received to deliver the commencement address at a small Catholic women’s college in Indiana was canceled after the college learned that Planned Parenthood had given her an award 12 years ago.

Jean Kilbourne said the decision was distressing because she had planned to focus her speech at Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Ind., on negative images of women in the media and advertising. She said she was not going to talk about abortion or Planned Parenthood.

“I felt it was chilling, and I feel that way in general with what’s going on in the country and on college campuses,’’ Kilbourne said. “There’s this polarization that’s so extreme that it becomes difficult to hear different points of view.’’

Saint Mary’s College, which had not officially announced Kilbourne as its commencement speaker or signed a contract with her, issued a statement in response.

“We consider our deliberations about, and discussions with, prospective college commencement speakers to be private,’’ said Kara Kelly, a college spokeswoman. “As yet, no public announcement has been made about the 2017 commencement speaker. Saint Mary’s expects to announce commencement details in late April.’’

The episode is the latest example of the controversy that can erupt when Catholic colleges invite commencement speakers who may not uphold Catholic teaching on social issues.

In 2003, a group of alumni protested when the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester invited the television host Chris Matthews to deliver the commencement address, saying it was inappropriate because of his support for abortion rights. Bishop Daniel Reilly of Worcester did not attend the ceremony.

When the University of Notre Dame chose President Obama as its commencement speaker in 2009, it faced demonstrations over his support for abortion rights. The university did not rescind the invitation.

In 2012, Anna Maria College in Paxton canceled a commencement speech by Victoria Reggie Kennedy, the widow of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, after Worcester Bishop Robert J. McManus deemed her views on abortion, gay rights, and contraception incompatible with Catholic teaching. The college held the commencement ceremony without any speaker, and McManus did not attend.

Kilbourne, a frequent lecturer on the objectification of women and the harmful effects of advertising, said she has spoken at 52 Catholic colleges and universities and has never run into problems. In 2014, she delivered a lecture at Saint Mary’s College titled, “The Naked Truth: Advertising’s Image of Gender.’’

Last month, she said, her agent informed her that Saint Mary’s, which has 1,500 students and is located across the street from the University of Notre Dame, had asked her to deliver its commencement address on May 20.

Her agent sent the college a contract as well as biographical information about Kilbourne and a list of the many awards she has received.

Two weeks ago, her agent e-mailed her, saying the college would not sign the contract because Kilbourne had received the Hilda Crosby Standish Leadership Award from Planned Parenthood of Connecticut in 2005.

The award, named for the medical director of Connecticut’s first birth control clinic, recognizes individuals who share “the courage and passion for social change that Dr. Standish embodied,’’ according to Kilbourne’s website, which lists the award.

Kilbourne said she was stunned and disappointed that she had been dropped. “It’s not even that I worked for Planned Parenthood or spoke about it,’’ she said. “But simply the fact that I got this award was enough to knock out this invitation and my commencement address. . . . It seemed to me a sign of the times.’’

Michael Levenson can be reached at michael.levenson@globe.com