The Rev. Harry Knox implores religious leaders to finally begin speaking out for reproductive freedom. Writing at Religion Dispatches:
We know from multiple studies that three out of every four women who are denied an abortion are thrown into poverty within a year of the denial. We know too that access to contraception and exposure to comprehensive sex education significantly lower the instances of unwanted pregnancies. Yet political and religious leaders who support abortion rights and access to contraception have been timid about making the moral case for reproductive justice. And our silence has allowed those who oppose access to affordable reproductive health services to paint themselves as the only people of conscience and principle in the current debate.
Religious leaders, in particular, must articulate the simple fact that while people of faith vary widely in their beliefs about when and whether ending a pregnancy is morally acceptable, a vast majority of the American people believe that decisions about pregnancy should be made by a woman, in consultation with her partner and physician, and perhaps her clergyperson—not by the government.
Knox is the president of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.Read his full essay here.