Press Release California
Press Release
SisterReach and NARAL Pro-Choice America Launch New Videos Highlighting Strong Support for Reproductive Freedom Among People of Faith
For Immediate Release: Monday, April 5, 2021
Contact: [email protected]
Washington, DC — Today, NARAL Pro-Choice America and SisterReach launched two videos, in both English and Spanish, demonstrating the fact that a majority of people across faiths and religions support reproductive freedom. Too often, religious-based language is set up in opposition to reproductive freedom, when in reality, it can be an integral part of supporting it.
People of faith have vast and nuanced positions on abortion, and in fact, many people support reproductive freedom because of—not in spite of—the teachings of their religious traditions. Despite ongoing efforts by anti-choice extremists to portray religion in opposition to the fight for reproductive freedom, polling shows that reproductive freedom is widely supported by people of all faith traditions.
The videos showcase Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim Americans expressing their support for reproductive freedom as a best practice within their religious beliefs. To view the English language videos, click here, and to view the Spanish language videos, click here.
“Many people of faith not only support reproductive freedom, but have benefitted from unbarriered access to reproductive health services, which include abortion care,” said SisterReach CEO & Founder, Cherisse Scott. “As a Christian, who has also had to choose an abortion, I am reassured that my choice is without condemnation from my God. And that self-determination and autonomy are also sacred gifts that I alone am entrusted and capable to inform. The anti-choice agenda does not consider women who are pregnant and when a child is born, their agenda shifts to disenfranchisement and disregard for human life. They are not present or concerned for women, children, and families and their ability to sustain themselves. Therefore, their argument for life is meaningless and unfounded. Women and families deserve better.”
“It is simply false to equate holding religious beliefs with hostility towards reproductive freedom, yet this disinformation has long been a core element of the anti-choice movement’s playbook,” said NARAL Pro-Choice America Chief Research and Communications Officer Adrienne Kimmell. “Anti-choice extremism is not a byproduct of faith or religious values—it is rooted in a desire to thwart all forms of social progress and maintain white patriarchal control. We must be vigilant in calling out the dangerous and deceitful conflation of religion with anti-choice extremism and keep front and center the reality that a majority of people of faith support reproductive freedom.”
The anti-choice movement has long relied on muddying the waters and spreading disinformation to distract from the unpopularity of its position. It has hijacked the conversation to pit religion against reproductive freedom. This could not be further from the truth. In fact, a majority of voters in battleground states support reproductive freedom and access to abortion, including 73% of Protestants, 70% of Roman Catholics, 83% of voters who practice another form of Christianity, 89% of Jewish voters, 60% of Muslims, and 87% who practice another religion.
This deceptive false dichotomy has been weaponized to falsely cast President Joe Biden’s support for reproductive freedom as incompatible with his Catholic faith—purporting that he could not possibly support the freedom to make personal decisions about when and if to start or grow a family if he is truly a person of faith. But for many, their support for reproductive freedom is deeply rooted in their faith. Their religious traditions teach them that personal decisions about pregnancy should be made by the person who is pregnant in consultation with those they love and trust, in accordance with their own faith.
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For over 50 years, NARAL Pro-Choice America and its network of state affiliates and chapters have fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom—including access to abortion, contraception, and paid family leave—for every body. NARAL is powered by its more than 2.5 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 7 in 10 Americans who believe every person should have the freedom to make the best decision for themselves about if, when, and how to raise a family.