September 18, 2007

About the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice

Located in Washington D.C. and online, their mission states (in part):
The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice brings the moral power of religious communities to ensure reproductive choice through education and advocacy. The Coalition seeks to give clear voice to the reproductive issues of people of color, those living in poverty, and other underserved populations.

While our member organizations are religiously and theologically diverse, they are unified in the commitment to preserve reproductive choice as a basic part of religious liberty.

Our rational, healing perspective looks beyond the bitter abortion debate to seek solutions to pressing problems such as unintended pregnancy, the spread of HIV/AIDS, inadequate health care and health insurance, and the severe reduction in reproductive health care services. We support access to sex education, family planning and contraception, affordable child care and health care, and adoption services as well as safe, legal, abortion services, regardless of income.
Rational; theologically diverse; safe, legal, abortion services.......these all seem to be very warm, welcoming terms, everything a good public relations strategy would encompass. Smart, pluralistic, safe, and legal do not look beyond the abortion debate, they ignore it.

The RCRC statement on ESCR is lacking some serious content. Perhaps the organization is uninformed about the process of SCNT and the desire for proponets of ESCR to clone embryos for research. And if they are uninformed about SCNT (I doubt it), it's time for them to learn why bioethicists like myself are concerned not only for human life and dignity in all stages, but also for the young women who are being exploited by the pursuit of their eggs. It is difficult to believe that the best interests of young women are really the highest concern of pro-Roe activists. Willful disregard for the health and respect of young women is a prerequisite to the pursuit of ESCR.

But what about this "moral power of religious communities" ?? I'm not exactly sure what it means. It seems to suggest that a certain degree of influence in the area of reproductive choice on the part of this pluralistic religious community is something to be recognized and engaged. Is that really any different from the "moral power" leveraged by prolife conservatives? I don't think so.

1 comment:

Christina Dunigan said...

But what about this "moral power of religious communities" ??

It means using phony religious jargon to try to talk women of faith into aborting so that they themselves -- the activists -- can feel less guilty about their own abortion involvement on the grounds that if everybody's doing it, it can't be all that wrong.

To which I say, "Eat s**t! Ten billion flies can't be wrong!"