Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

Below you will find information pertaining to women’s reproductive rights gathered from across the Episcopal Church and other Christian denominations. We have curated news articles, prayers, books, videos and community resources on the topic. We hope you find them helpful.

Note: We will update this list as new resources are made available. If you have a relevant resource to share, please send it to editor@ecf.org

Statements from The Episcopal Church:

• Statement on Supreme Court Dobbs Decision by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry

• Statement from President Jennings Responding to the Supreme Court Decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization

General Convention Resolutions from The Episcopal Church:

• Episcopal House of Deputies adopts resolution affirming abortion on demand

• Summary of General Convention Resolutions on Abortion and Women’s Reproductive Health

• Reaffirm the 1967 General Convention Statement on Abortion The Episcopal Church upholds the conscience rights of pregnant women and other pregnant persons to determine whether they want to continue a pregnancy. Please write your members of Congress and ask them to protect reproductive rights.

• Information from the Office of Government Relations: Summary of General Convention Policy on Abortion and Women’s Reproductive Health

Statements from Non-Episcopal Churches on Reproductive Rights:

• Bishop Eaton issues pastoral message on SCOTUS ruling regarding Roe v. Wade (ELCA)

• We will stand with you in protest, national officers speak out after Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade (United Church of Christ)

• Sadness, anger, frustration: Nelson, Moffett, other church leaders react to decision to overturn Roe v. Wade (Presbyterian Church)

• Unitarian Universalist Association

• “Americans’ views on abortion, by religious group”, Pew Research Center 2018

Liturgies and Prayers:

• A Service of Lament and Healing

• Servicio de Lamento y Sanación

• Prayer for Reproductive Justice for All Women In a desire for equality and justice, we pray for the health and well-being of each and every person, calling particular attention to the women in this country and around the world who lack full access to reproductive health care. May we work on their behalf, so that no barrier may divide the people of the world and all may receive the care they need. Amen. (The Religious Institute)

• Responsive Readings on Reproductive Justice (The Religious Institute)

• Prayers from The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice

• Reproductive Justice Worship Resources Hub by Side With Love, sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Association

• Service of Lament for Reproductive Justice and Affirmation of Body Autonomy, United Church of Christ

News Articles:

• The Episcopal Church and Abortion: It’s Complicated by Kirk Peterson

• Reproductive Choices: An Episcopal Perspective by The Reverend Anne C. Fowler

• ‘No Restriction’ on Abortion, Episcopalians Resolve at General Convention

• Views about abortion among members of the Episcopal Church, Pew Research Center

• Faith leaders react with joy, anger to Roe’s reversal, PBS

• Episcopal leaders voice grief at Supreme Court ruling ending constitutional protection for right to abortion

• ‘No Restriction’ on Abortion, Episcopalians Resolve at General Convention

• Public Opinion on Abortion

• Meet the Religious Groups Fighting to Save Abortion Access

• Statement from Bishops Gates and Harris on Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade reversal

• Those of us who defend abortion rights are deeply concerned for the dignity of women

Books:

• Pro-Choice and Christian by Kira Schlesinger Pro-Choice and Christian explores the biblical, theological, political, and medical aspects of the debate in order to provide a thoughtful Christian argument for a pro-choice position with regard to abortion issues. Kira Schlesinger considers relevant Scriptures, the politics of abortion in the United States, and the human realities making abortion a vital issue of justice and compassion.

• Abortion and the Christian Tradition: A Pro-Choice Theological Ethic by Margaret D. Kamitsuka A common perception is that abortion is contrary to Christian teaching and values. While some have challenged that perception, few have attempted a comprehensive critique and constructive counterargument on Christian ethical and theological grounds. Margaret Kamitsuka begins with a careful examination of the church’s biblical and historical record, refuting the assumption that Christianity has always condemned abortion or that it considered personhood as beginning at the moment of conception.

• Trust Women: A Progressive Christian Argument for Reproductive Justice by Rebecca Todd Peters Ambitious in method and scope, Trust Women skillfully interweaves political analysis, sociology, ancient and modern philosophy, Christian tradition, and medical history, and grounds its analysis in the material reality of women’s lives and their decisions about sexuality, abortion, and child-bearing. Roughly one-third of US women will have an abortion by age forty-five, and fifty to sixty percent of the women who have abortions were using birth control during the month they got pregnant. Rebecca Todd Peters, a Presbyterian minister and social ethicist, argues that…shaming and judging reflects deep, often unspoken patriarchal and racist assumptions about women and women’s sexual activity.

• Sacred Work: Planned Parenthood and Its Clergy Alliances by Rev. Thomas Davis In Sacred Work, Tom Davis brings to light the ways in which the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, a leading reproductive rights organization, and the clergy are not as incongruent as they often are construed to be. Although clergy supporters of choice are rarely, if ever, given attention in the media, Davis shows that they in fact play a major role in advancing women’s rights, rebutting right wing arguments, and helping to make (and keep) abortion legal nationwide.

• Sacred Choices: The Right to Contraception and Abortion in Ten World Religions by Daniel C. Maguire In Sacred Choices: The Right to Contraception and Abortion in Ten World Religions, ethics professor Daniel Maguire counters that "although many people believe that contraception is forbidden by their religion... the world's religions are open to family planning, including contraception and also abortion as a backup when necessary." He argues that many religions have selectively presented only the anti-contraception, anti-abortion threads of their tradition.

• Walking Together: Global Anglican Perspectives on Reconciliation by the Anglican Consultative Council In Walking Together, global Anglican leaders share difficult and profound experiences of seeking reconciliation. If left to our own human devices, reconciliation is impossible, concedes Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury. But Walking Together focuses not on the human task of reconciliation but on God’s work, reminding us that when we seek reconciliation, “we are merely joining in the work that God has already begun.” These stories of communities walking together toward reconciliation offer hope, allowing us to “glimpse the beauty of the people of God as they seek, despite their brokenness, to join in the work of the Kingdom.”

TED Talks/Videos

• Changing The Reproductive Rights Conversation | Jessica Waters | TEDxBaltimore A discussion on changing the reproductive rights conversation. As the current debate and discourse remain highly polarized, moving beyond the extremes and recognizing and respect the realm of the "technicolor" decisions that women make is encouraged.

• Reframing Reproductive Rights: Going Beyond Pro-Choice vs Pro Life | Asha Dahya | TEDxNormal Asha Dahya, Journalist and women’s rights activist; founder/editor of GirlTalkHQ.com, presents: “Reframing Reproductive Rights: Going Beyond Pro-Choice vs Pro Life” Asha shares her big idea surrounding what it would it look like if we took the most divisive topic in America and changed the narrative beyond pro-choice and pro-life? Can abortion be seen through the lens other than the narrow finery that currently exists?

• Abortion and Personhood: What the Moral Dilemma Is Really About | Glenn Cohen | Big Think Prof. Glenn Cohen is one of the world's leading experts on the intersection of bioethics (sometimes also called "medical ethics") and the law, as well as health law. “In the 1970s we have the Roe v. Wade decision in the United States. It was a decision relating to a woman's right to have an abortion. It introduced the trimester framework. It basically allowed first trimester abortions, made it very difficult to have third trimester abortions. And essentially this was really met very quickly thereafter with the sort of backlash. And really the last 40/50 years of American history have more or less been a backlash against Roe v. Wade and an attempt to kind of criminalize abortion in all sorts of interesting ways without overturning the decision.”

• Sunday Sermon, The Rev. Matthew A. Welsch, "For freedom, Christ has set you free", Trinity Church Wall Street, June 26, 2022 "Your dignity, your sacred worth cannot be conferred or denied by a legislature or a court. You are a Child of God." In this Pride Sunday sermon, the Rev. Matthew A. Welsch confronts the heaviness many of us feel as new laws and court decisions undermine the civil rights and dignity of women, trans, and non binary people, such as the Supreme Court's decision on Friday to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Groups

• Catholics for Choice Catholics for Choice is a nonprofit organization that lifts up the voices of the majority of Catholics who believe in reproductive freedom.

• Episcopalians for Life We are Episcopalians and we stand for life! #Episcopalians4Life

• Faith in Women We convene people of faith across Mississippi to share and learn about complex ideas related to reproductive health, rights, and justice.

• Florida Interfaith Coalition for Reproductive Health and Justice The Florida Interfaith Coalition for Reproductive Health and Justice is a grassroots group of interfaith clergy, faith leaders and lay people, who reflect the spiritual and racial diversity of our communities. Affirming the inherent worth and dignity of all persons, we strongly support the constitutional right of religious liberty and the right of each person to make reproductive health care decisions in accordance with their own conscience and faith beliefs, without shame or stigma.

• Interfaith Voices for Reproductive Justice Interfaith Voices for Reproductive Justice (IVRJ) is an organization of interfaith and progressive voices working to create transformative theological narratives that center the moral authority of Black women and girls. As an education, advocacy, and research organization, IVRJ works with religious scholars, pastors, and ethicists to strengthen their grounding in reproductive justice and promote an analysis around religion and reproductive justice that builds a bridge between the secular advocacy community and the religious academy.

• Kentucky Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (KRCRC) The Kentucky Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (KRCRC) includes people of faith and conscience, working together to ensure access to family planning, other reproductive health services (including medically safe abortion), and comprehensive sexuality education.

• Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) is a broad-based, national, interfaith movement that brings the moral force of religion to protect and advance reproductive health, choice, rights and justice through education, prophetic witness, pastoral presence and advocacy.

• SACReD Spiritual Alliance of Communities for Reproductive Dignity is an alliance of organizers, religious leaders, academics, and congregations working together to advance the cause of reproductive justice through congregational designation and community building programs.

• Side With Love, sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Association As Unitarian Universalists, we believe that all bodies are sacred. Every person has the right to determine what happens to their own body at all phases of life. One crucial role we can play is in continuing to voice values-based, theologically grounded support for abortion and reproductive justice.

• SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective SisterSong is a Southern-based, national membership organization; our purpose is to build an effective network of individuals and organizations to improve institutional policies and systems that impact the reproductive lives of marginalized communities.