For Sunday: Abortion Rights & The Church
Preaching, Praying, and Acting in Support of Creators' Rights to Freedom and Choice.
Are you preaching or expecting your pastor to preach about abortion rights this Sunday? Are you praying for pregnant people who currently and increasingly will face violence and death? Are you publicly lamenting the progressive Church’s silence on abortion rights? Are you taking direct action to protect pregnant people in your communities, state, and our country? Together, we must.
What Roe v. Wade offers must be secured—the protection of a pregnant woman's liberty to choose to have an abortion without excessive government restriction, and also, expanded to include nonbinary pregnant people.
The Supreme Court’s leaked draft decision to overturn 1973 Roe v. Wade is a direct attack on the health and lives of pregnant people.
But most progressive Christians don’t talk about “abortion” in church. The phrase “Reproductive rights” is more palatable, but even that is rarely raised in the pulpit, prayers of the people, education hour, coffee hour, or even one-to-one relationships.
The lives and experiences of pregnant people are too often shamed or hidden out of fear for our lives in the Church and wider community.
Our progressive Christian silence is certain violence for the people whom we say we love. The people we venerate on Mother’s Day, the people who were given the divine gift of creating life, the people who risk their lives in pregnancy and labor, the people who are reduced to no more than earthen vessels, when our bodies, heart, and soul are the potters.
I offer this “Creator’s Rights,” an adaptation of Isaiah 45:9-12, 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13, and Galatians 5:1, as one of a few resources in this post that you are invited to use in worship and in difficult conversations we must have to protect pregnant people:
I pray that God gives you the courage to preach, teach, and pray about the lives, bodies, health, and reproductive choice of the divine creators’ in our midst this Sunday—particularly Mother’s Day, on the ballot, in the streets, in your donations to nonprofits advocating for reproductive and abortion rights, as you volunteer to drive pregnant people to their appointments, or host them in your home and church as they travel across state lines to receive the healthcare they desperately need.
In Christ in whom we are all free,
Rev. Dr. Jenny Whitcher, Ph.D.
Minister of Prophetic Formation
call/text: 720-298-2274
Abortion Rights & Racism
At the hearings for the Colorado Reproductive Health Equity Act, I was moved by Dani Newsum’s (she/her) testimony, and asked if she would be willing to share her testimony with you all so that you might share with your congregations—she agreed. You can read more about testifying at the hearings in last month’s blog post, here. This bill passed and was signed into law none too soon, on April 5, 2022.
Our stories matter as they narrate our understanding of reality and teach us what love and justice look like when faced with what appears to be theologically and ethically difficult decisions.
Abortion is not flippantly about choice, it is about the real need to protect the health and lives of pregnant people. Black, brown, and indigenous pregnant people are disproportionately affected by structural racism and injustice within the wider healthcare system, maternal healthcare, and in access to life-saving abortions.
Black women are over three times more likely to die in pregnancy and childbirth than white women in the United States. Preeclampsia and eclampsia are the leading cause of maternal death among Black women, which are pregnancy-related high blood pressure disorders that cause sudden spikes in blood pressure, seizures, coma, and death (PRB, 2021). “New research by Amanda Stevenson of the CU Population Center at the University of Colorado Boulder shows that banning abortion nationwide would lead to a 21% increase in the number of pregnancy-related deaths for all women and a 33% increase among Black women, compared with rates for 2017.” (Stevenson, 2021)
Testimony from Dani Newsum, March 9, 2022, at the Colorado House Health & Insurance Committee:
Good afternoon Chairwoman Lontine and members of the Health and Insurance Committee. My name is Dani Newsum. I am the director of strategic partnerships at Cobalt and am testifying in enthusiastic support of House Bill 1279.
This summer my husband and I will celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. Although I was blessed to give birth to our two adult children, I have been pregnant 6 times.
I’ve suffered 2 miscarriages, 1 ectopic pregnancy, and the loss of our middle child - Marissa - who died four days after her premature birth in 1990.
Like so many women - and in particular Black women - I developed preeclampsia during my three longer-term pregnancies. My blood pressure spiked so dangerously during my pregnancy with Marissa that even bed rest wasn’t an option.
To save my life, she was delivered prematurely by emergency C-section. Four days later, Marissa died as I held her in my arms. After her death, doctors strongly advised us to avoid another pregnancy. A bit over two years later, we were shocked to learn we were pregnant again. Considering our second child’s death, and the threat pregnancy posed to MY life, we had a decision to make. I had a decision to make.
Ultimately what to do about my pregnancy was MY decision. My husband and I worried and talked, and worried some more. I prayed.
But one thing we didn’t have to worry about- at that time- was a cabal of anti-abortion politicians denying me my birthright - to decide what was best for me. I was 37, Black, and free, and nobody but me had a legal right to make a decision about my pregnancy, my life, and my family. And so I did. Pilamaya - thank you - to the Great Spirit, my third child is now 28, and like me, an attorney and fervent advocate for abortion rights and access. But now, with the U.S. Supreme Court on track to neuter or overturn the federal right to an abortion, and the never-ending attempts by radical anti-abortionists in Colorado to ban abortion in this state, it is TIME to stand UP: with credit to the immortal Bessie Smith - Ain’t Nobody’s Business if I do - or don’t.
Please approve the Reproductive Health Equity Act, and make the right to obtain abortion care, to obtain contraceptives, as well as the right to continue a pregnancy, or refuse contraception, a fundamental right in Colorado.
Abortion is Healthcare
Abortion is part of necessary healthcare for pregnant people. What is often silent in the abortion debate is the life-saving need for abortion as a medical procedure. For any pregnant person, there is potential for dangerous health risks. Again these are details of the lives and experiences of pregnant people that we don’t talk or know much about in Church, but that need to be understood as part of the life and experience of pregnant people within our congregations, clergy, and wider communities.
Here are some of the instances in which abortion is THE medical treatment option, otherwise the pregnant person dies or is at high risk of death: (Reuters, ACOG)
Miscarriage: Instances when some or all of the fetal or placental material remains in the uterus and must be removed for the health and life of the pregnant person.
Ectopic pregnancy: When a fertilized egg implants outside of the uterus, where it cannot survive. If it is left to continue to grow, it can damage adjacent organs and cause life-threatening blood loss. Ectopic pregnancies most often occur on the fertilized egg’s journey through the fallopian tube, which connects the ovaries to the uterus.
Infection of the Uterus: An infection that can quickly spread into the pregnant person’s bloodstream, turning septic.
Placental abruption: When the placenta starts to separate from the uterus, which can lead to bleeding to death.
Preeclampsia: Dangerously high blood pressure and signs of organ damage.
Exacerbation of underlying or preexisting conditions: Examples include renal or cardiac disease, and cancer.
Support Colorado Organizations Fighting for Reproductive & Abortion Rights
Cobalt
If you would like to support Dani’s work with others at Cobalt, a nonprofit dedicated to abortion access and reproductive rights, you can donate here, and specifically to the following funds:
support their political work to elect pro-choice candidates, defeat anti-abortion legislation, and run proactive bills through the Colorado State Legislature;
provide financial support for abortion care through The Cobalt Abortion Fund where 100% of donations go to people seeking abortion care; or
support their overall operations to help grow their community organizing and impact.
Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights (COLOR)
COLOR is a community-rooted nonprofit that works to enable Latinx individuals and their families to lead safe, healthy, self-determined lives. You can donate here, to build leadership capacity of young people of color; help produce their radio show Mujeres de COLOR to engage and educate the Spanish speaking community; send young people from their Latinas Increasing Political Strength program to D.C. to lobby their representatives on behalf of their community; provide comprehensive sex education to Spanish-speaking, immigrant families; organize get out the vote in the Latinx community; and more.
