I am writing this piece in-between sessions at the GA. But I feel, as many of you, that a loud cry out against the Supreme Court decision against abortion rights must be made. The decision in the case of Dobbs vs Jackson Women’s Health Organization is hard to bear. There was a heartfelt response from GA members against the decision. It was wonderful to see a faith community respond so swiftly to a major injustice and an offence to women’s health rights.

We as a faith community need to be responsive to women and their right to determine their health care choices. And we need to honor women who do not have access to health resources because of a variety of reasons, especially those who live in poverty and have little access to reproductive care. This care is integral to a woman’s very dignity and sense of human worth.

My grandfather had to decide about saving me or my mother during a very difficult birth. He was told, by his pastor, that he had to let his daughter die. The reason? The child was more important than the mother. It was my grandfather’s moral duty. It was a stroke of luck that a young doctor came in to save the day. But no one should have to make the horrible decision that my grandfather had to make. It is time for all of us to give reproductive rights back to women who own their own bodies. Women decide what they can or cannot do. This applies to our government.

We need to fight against archaic religious ideas or ideologies that put woman and their bodies in the hands of others. Women have the right to make informed decisions. The court’s decision abandons federal protections and leaves abortion regulation to the states. This was an argument that was used in the nineteenth century for states to regulate slavery.

Make your voices heard and raise the banner to protect all those women who will be affected by this decision. As people of faith we have obligations to speak out and open our hearts and our check books to send money to organizations that help with reproductive rights.

This is a pivotal day for our country and religious groups must respond.