We are KRCRC: Christians, Jews, and Muslims, and other people of faith and conscience who believe in reproductive justice, abortion rights, and in every pregnant person’s right to have agency over their own body.
We believe in choice, in that our faiths teach us that we are called to make the best decisions we can about our own well-being and about the well-being of all who depend on us. We understand that we are called by our faiths to offer compassion and support to those who face difficult choices involving pregnancy, adoption, and parenting, and we believe that the pregnant person, with the wisdom of their own doctor and their own faith, is best suited to make the decision that is best for them.
SUPPORT FOR ABORTION RIGHTS IN DIFFERENT FAITH TRADITIONS
It’s a mistaken notion that all religious people are opposed to abortion. Wrong, wrong, wrong! The truth of the matter is that most religious Americans support legal abortion! A 2024 Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) poll finds that:
“Majorities across most religious traditions say that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, including Unitarian Universalists (93%), Jewish Americans (81%), Buddhists (79%), other Catholics of color (73%), Black Protestants (71%), white mainline/non-evangelical Protestants (68%), white Catholics (62%), Muslims (60%), Hispanic Catholics (57%), and
other Protestants of color (52%). By contrast, Jehovah’s Witnesses (25%), white evangelical Protestants (27%), Latter-day Saints (30%), and Hispanic Protestants (40%) are the only major religious groups in which less than half of adherents support the legality of abortion. Among religiously unaffiliated Americans, 87% say that abortion should be
legal in most or all cases.”(1)
RELIGIOUS OPINIONS ABOUT THE BEGINNING OF LIFE
We are KRCRC: We are people of faith and conscience who believe in reproductive rights, and we are clearly in the mainstream of American opinion about abortion! Our reasoning: First and foremost, we understand that there are multiple religious positions regarding when life begins:
1. Many believe that life begins at the very moment of conception. We believe those who hold that belief are fully entitled to practice it by refusing abortion in their own lives.
2. Others hold that life does not begin until the newborn baby draws its first breath. Some who hold that position rely on the scripture account which states that “God fashioned humans from dust of the soil, and then breathed into his/her nostrils the breath of life, and thus man/woman became a living being” (Genesis 2).
3. Still others believe that life begins when the prenate experiences “ensoulment,” the instilling of a God-given soul. Ensoulment is understood by many as taking place at the point of fetal viability.
None of us knows for a certainty which position is ultimately correct, and because we do not know, we must respect each person’s right to decide for themselves when they believe that life begins. Those of us in KRCRC firmly believe that the American principle of religious freedom demands that the religious practice of individual adherents to their own religious
tradition be honored in both theory and practice. While we know that some may argue that abortion is murder, and while we accept that they are free to practice that understanding in their own lives, our religious beliefs make us insist that they do not have the right to force that view on those who see it otherwise. To do so is to deny others the freedom of religion and religious practice that we all deeply value.
FREE WILL
The concept of free will is integral to many religious traditions. For example, the “People of the Book” are Christians, Jews, and Muslims who have a common heritage, worship a common God, and share portions of the same scriptures. Almost universally, they consider free will to be a foundational aspect of their faith. Our humanity comes from God with the right
of self-determination, right or wrong. Right or wrong, we are not puppets on strings, or robots controlled by some divine algorithm. We have the gift of choice because God wants us to choose life. In any particular endeavor, the “People of the Book” believe that God is with us through prayer and reason as we choose, helping us to make those choices which are best.
ADDITIONAL FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED
There are numerous ethical, medical and personal factors to be considered in prayerfully making a personal decision about a specific pregnancy. We understand that even traditions that believe life begins at conception look beyond just that belief to other factors, including the risk to the life, health and/or quality of life of the pregnant person, the impact of the pregnancy upon the family of the pregnant person, the likely quality of life of the future infant, and more. In Islam, for example, “most Islamic thinkers have concluded that there are various legitimate reasons for having an abortion, and the earlier the decision is made, the better.”(2)
A number of religious traditions have come to acknowledge the wisdom of the Reproductive Justice movement, begun by black women, which asserts that "Reproductive Justice is the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities."(3) The Reproductive Justice movement teaches us that stigmatization of abortion – alongside all the societal factors that make every choice in an unwanted pregnancy a difficult one, from a broken healthcare system to religious intolerance to lack of support for parents to poverty to mass incarceration – is actually what is traumatizing to people who do not want to be pregnant.(4)
SUMMARY
We are KRCRC: Christians, Jews, and Muslims, and other people of faith and conscience who believe in reproductive justice and abortion rights. We believe that the God of love and justice stands with those who are facing unwanted pregnancies, and we believe that God wants every pregnant person to have the right to have agency over their own body. We believe that God disdains patriarchal behavior, and condemns the control of any one person by another – control of the other’s physical self, mind, or spirit. We believe in choice, and we know that our religious traditions support that belief.
(1) – “Abortion Views in All 50 States: Findings from PRRI’s 2023 American Values Atlas,” by PRRI Staff, May 2, 2024.)
(2) https://theworld.org/stories/2019/05/17/when-does-life-begin
(3) https://www.sistersong.net/reproductive-justice
(4) https://sidewithlove.org/ourstories/2023/6/15/why-we-proclaim-abortion-is-a-blessing-context-history-theology
We believe in choice, in that our faiths teach us that we are called to make the best decisions we can about our own well-being and about the well-being of all who depend on us. We understand that we are called by our faiths to offer compassion and support to those who face difficult choices involving pregnancy, adoption, and parenting, and we believe that the pregnant person, with the wisdom of their own doctor and their own faith, is best suited to make the decision that is best for them.
SUPPORT FOR ABORTION RIGHTS IN DIFFERENT FAITH TRADITIONS
It’s a mistaken notion that all religious people are opposed to abortion. Wrong, wrong, wrong! The truth of the matter is that most religious Americans support legal abortion! A 2024 Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) poll finds that:
“Majorities across most religious traditions say that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, including Unitarian Universalists (93%), Jewish Americans (81%), Buddhists (79%), other Catholics of color (73%), Black Protestants (71%), white mainline/non-evangelical Protestants (68%), white Catholics (62%), Muslims (60%), Hispanic Catholics (57%), and
other Protestants of color (52%). By contrast, Jehovah’s Witnesses (25%), white evangelical Protestants (27%), Latter-day Saints (30%), and Hispanic Protestants (40%) are the only major religious groups in which less than half of adherents support the legality of abortion. Among religiously unaffiliated Americans, 87% say that abortion should be
legal in most or all cases.”(1)
RELIGIOUS OPINIONS ABOUT THE BEGINNING OF LIFE
We are KRCRC: We are people of faith and conscience who believe in reproductive rights, and we are clearly in the mainstream of American opinion about abortion! Our reasoning: First and foremost, we understand that there are multiple religious positions regarding when life begins:
1. Many believe that life begins at the very moment of conception. We believe those who hold that belief are fully entitled to practice it by refusing abortion in their own lives.
2. Others hold that life does not begin until the newborn baby draws its first breath. Some who hold that position rely on the scripture account which states that “God fashioned humans from dust of the soil, and then breathed into his/her nostrils the breath of life, and thus man/woman became a living being” (Genesis 2).
3. Still others believe that life begins when the prenate experiences “ensoulment,” the instilling of a God-given soul. Ensoulment is understood by many as taking place at the point of fetal viability.
None of us knows for a certainty which position is ultimately correct, and because we do not know, we must respect each person’s right to decide for themselves when they believe that life begins. Those of us in KRCRC firmly believe that the American principle of religious freedom demands that the religious practice of individual adherents to their own religious
tradition be honored in both theory and practice. While we know that some may argue that abortion is murder, and while we accept that they are free to practice that understanding in their own lives, our religious beliefs make us insist that they do not have the right to force that view on those who see it otherwise. To do so is to deny others the freedom of religion and religious practice that we all deeply value.
FREE WILL
The concept of free will is integral to many religious traditions. For example, the “People of the Book” are Christians, Jews, and Muslims who have a common heritage, worship a common God, and share portions of the same scriptures. Almost universally, they consider free will to be a foundational aspect of their faith. Our humanity comes from God with the right
of self-determination, right or wrong. Right or wrong, we are not puppets on strings, or robots controlled by some divine algorithm. We have the gift of choice because God wants us to choose life. In any particular endeavor, the “People of the Book” believe that God is with us through prayer and reason as we choose, helping us to make those choices which are best.
ADDITIONAL FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED
There are numerous ethical, medical and personal factors to be considered in prayerfully making a personal decision about a specific pregnancy. We understand that even traditions that believe life begins at conception look beyond just that belief to other factors, including the risk to the life, health and/or quality of life of the pregnant person, the impact of the pregnancy upon the family of the pregnant person, the likely quality of life of the future infant, and more. In Islam, for example, “most Islamic thinkers have concluded that there are various legitimate reasons for having an abortion, and the earlier the decision is made, the better.”(2)
A number of religious traditions have come to acknowledge the wisdom of the Reproductive Justice movement, begun by black women, which asserts that "Reproductive Justice is the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities."(3) The Reproductive Justice movement teaches us that stigmatization of abortion – alongside all the societal factors that make every choice in an unwanted pregnancy a difficult one, from a broken healthcare system to religious intolerance to lack of support for parents to poverty to mass incarceration – is actually what is traumatizing to people who do not want to be pregnant.(4)
SUMMARY
We are KRCRC: Christians, Jews, and Muslims, and other people of faith and conscience who believe in reproductive justice and abortion rights. We believe that the God of love and justice stands with those who are facing unwanted pregnancies, and we believe that God wants every pregnant person to have the right to have agency over their own body. We believe that God disdains patriarchal behavior, and condemns the control of any one person by another – control of the other’s physical self, mind, or spirit. We believe in choice, and we know that our religious traditions support that belief.
(1) – “Abortion Views in All 50 States: Findings from PRRI’s 2023 American Values Atlas,” by PRRI Staff, May 2, 2024.)
(2) https://theworld.org/stories/2019/05/17/when-does-life-begin
(3) https://www.sistersong.net/reproductive-justice
(4) https://sidewithlove.org/ourstories/2023/6/15/why-we-proclaim-abortion-is-a-blessing-context-history-theology