The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) is an abortion rights organization founded in 1973[1] by clergy and lay leaders from mainline denominations and faith traditions to create an interfaith organization following Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in the U.S.[2] In 1993, the original name – the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights (RCAR) – was changed to the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.[3]
Leadership
President and CEO: Katey Zeh
Chair of the Board: The Reverend Dr. Alethea Smith-Withers, pastor of the Pavilion of God (Baptist), Washington, DC
Chair of the Coalition Council, Kate Lannamann, J.D.
Activities
RCRC give spiritual guidance to women seeking abortions; doctors, doulas, and other health care professionals; other clergy; and reproductive rights activists. They advocate for laws that expand access to reproductive care.
In 2012, the Ohio RCR successfully opposed two bills in the state legislature that would have defunded Planned Parenthood and instituted a heartbeat bill. The executive director of the Ohio RCRC at the time, Cathy Levy, said part of their success was due to RCRC "coordinat[ing] clergy to testify in opposition"[4] to the bills.
In 2021, Kentucky RCRC paid $12,000 for religious, pro-abortion digital billboards in Louisville, Nicholasville, and Paducah, Kentucky. They raised over $8,000 towards the advertisements through a fundraising campaign on GoFundMe. The wording of the advertisements drew critiques from religious anti-abortion groups.[6]
In response to the 2021 Texas Heartbeat Act, the New Mexico RCRC financially assisted women who traveled from Texas to New Mexico to receive abortions.[7]
National Black Church Initiative
In the late 1990s, Carlton W. Veazey became the president and CEO of RCRC. During first few years of his leadership, he created the National Black Church Initiative within RCRC. He and other members of the initiative founded the National Black Religious Summit on Sexuality. The first summit was held on June 12-13, 1997 at Howard University. Over 250 people attended and events included worship services, workshops, and keynote speeches. Calvin O. Butts, Henry Foster, Kelly Brown Douglas, and Walter Fauntroy spoke at the summit.[8]
In 2000, RCRC and the NBCI launched a seminary project in order to educate Black clergy on issues of sexuality, reproductive choice, HIV prevention, and teenagers and sex.[9][10]
List of State Affiliates
In 2023, the national RCRC dissolved their state affiliate network.[11] Prior to that dissolution, the state affiliates and state networks of the Religious Coalition were involved in advocacy, education, community service, and implementing RCRC programs such as Clergy for Choice, All Options Clergy Counseling, and Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom at the community and state level.[12]
RCRC is criticized as advancing a "theology of choice" in Holy Abortion, a 2003 book co-authored by United Methodist Michael J. Gorman, a professor at St. Mary's Seminary & University in Baltimore, Maryland.[14]
^Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice website, rcrc.org
^Mills, Samuel A. (Summer 1991). "Abortion and Religious Freedom: The Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights (RCAR) and the Pro-Choice Movement, 1973-1989". Journal of Church and State. 33 (3): 569–594 – via Oxford Academic.
^Maynard, Mark (22 April 2021). "Religious group with Planned Parenthood ties unveils pro-abortion billboards". Interior Journal. Stanford, Kentucky. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
^M. Townes, Emilie (2004). "African American Churches and Reproductive Health Rights". In Smith, R. Drew (ed.). Long March Ahead: African American Churches and Public Policy in Post-Civil Rights America. Duke University Press. pp. 137–139. ISBN978-0-8223-3358-6.
