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"Faith & Freedom" Newsletter
December
2005
IRCRC—
1 year old!
At its November meeting the IRCRC Board of Directors reflected
on the year's activities and our many accomplishments in the areas
of outreach, education, and advocacy. Some of the major events and
activities included:
- Three major public events in Lafayette—guest speaker
on comprehensive sex ed, workshop with clergy panel, and film
showing
- Outreach to Purdue students, three congregations, and a state
advocacy group through speaking engagements and other activities
- Several letters to the editor and a guest column
- Publication of a newsletter and brochure and several mass
mailings
- Shared booth with Planned Parenthood at Tippecanoe County
Fair
- Participated actively in two major state coalitions
- Signed on to several important letters relating to legislation
or public policy
- Joined amicus brief for Ayotte v. New Hampshire Supreme Court
case
We hope everyone shares a great sense of pride at such a strong
beginning for a new organization!
What's next? The Board is already hard at work making plans
for 2006! Activities will include:
And more—we've only just begun!
What's
happening at the Statehouse— Proposed
legislation on reproductive health and what we should do about it
Thursday, January 26, 2006
7:00pm-8:30pm
Location: Lafayette, TBA (check www.ircrc.org or contact IRCRC)
Guest Speakers:
Michael McKillip, Director of Public Policy and Legislative
Affairs, Planned Parenthood of Indiana & Lindsey Mintz,
Director of Government Affairs, Jewish Community Relations Council
Will Senator Patricia Miller try to bring back her state authorized
pregnancy bill? Will lawmakers try to protect pharmacies that refuse
to fill prescriptions? Will there be any bills to improve women's
and family health that we can support?
The speakers will give an overview of bills that are currently
under consideration in the state legislature. They will also explain
how the legislature works and teach us how to be effective advocates.
Light refreshments
This event is free and open to the public
Now, more than ever, we as people of faith must
make our presence known to elected officials!
Drowning
out the Noise by Kaye McSpadden, President
My father is a remarkable man. Once a month he gets up in the wee
hours of a Saturday morning and heads to a local clinic that provides
abortion services. There, he quietly and protectively walks alongside
frightened and nervous women as they enter the clinic under a barrage
of hateful and venomous yelling and screaming.
I can only imagine the terror and pain this must cause many of
the people walking into the clinic. Recently someone told me of
a friend whose baby had died in utero, a tragic complication necessitating
a D&C, a procedure sometimes used for abortion. Because she
could not afford to have the procedure done anywhere else, she went
to a clinic. First, however, she had to endure the hateful gauntlet
outside, an experience that only magnified the personal pain and
grief she and her husband were already feeling.
Thousands of courageous and dedicated people across the country
are clinic escorts. What is perhaps remarkable about my father is
the fact that he is 82 years old. He is also a United Methodist
minister.
It seems that because he is a minister, my father is a particularly
favorite target of some of the protesters. One man gets right up
in my father's face, yelling and screaming unmentionable things
right into his ear. Sometimes people push him. One time someone
even knocked him down.
Recently, my father came up with an idea to drown out all the
noise, not so much for his benefit, but for the benefit of the women
he is escorting. He now carries a tape recorder and plays a
tape of Scottish bagpipe music. He tells the women he's going to
play the music so they won't have to listen to the protesters. He
says it's working very well, effectively blocking out the hateful
noise of the protesters. In fact, one of them was so infuriated
that he knocked down the tape recorder and broke it.
There is so much noise coming from the anti-choice movement
these days.
Earlier in the fall a Lafayette congregation posted a large billboard
that added to the "noise." The sign featured a large photo
of a beautiful several-months-old child next to a statement proclaiming
that "Abortion is the ultimate child abuse."
Several people told me they found this billboard so hurtful they
could not even bear to drive through that intersection. One friend
confided that she had ended a pregnancy at the age of 12, herself
the victim of sexual abuse.
I sent a letter to the local paper criticizing the billboard.
I suggested that it would be better to "provide honest information
and compassionate support instead of posting hurtful accusations."
I also said that if the congregation really wanted to reduce the
number of abortions, it would "advocate for effective approaches
to reducing unintended pregnancies, including access to family planning
services and comprehensive sexuality education."
Six (count `em, SIX) anti-choice response letters followed. I
was reminded of something a local radio journalist told me last
year. He said he had wanted to air a news story about the fact that
over 100 people from the Lafayette area traveled to the March for
Women's Lives in Washington DC. His boss, however, would not let
him do it. Why? Because "the pro-lifers would complain and
make too much noise."
Maybe it's time we start drowning out their noise. Not with more
noise, but with music. With the music of honesty and compassion,
the rhythms of faithful advocacy, and the harmonies of understanding
and respect.
We need to start speaking up and speaking out. For every six of
their letters, we need to write twelve more. When news coverage
is biased, we need to complain. When anti-choice groups are visiting
state legislators, we need to be there too.
I doubt my dad will ever change the mind of one of those protesters,
but he certainly is making a difference in the lives of hundreds
of people, and his constant presence is a witness and a reminder
that many people of faith will walk their talk in brave and helpful
ways.
Let us make peaceful and respectful advocacy and loving service
the music of our lives. That is the type of sound the
world needs to hear.
FAITHFUL
WITNESS You can be an escort too! An Indianapolis Planned
Parenthood clinic desperately needs escorts. Escorts will attend
a 2-3 hour training session and commit to at least one 3-hour morning
shift per month. Please contact Jennifer at jen@ppin.org
or call 800-421-3731x1155.
IRCRC and
Planned Parenthood volunteers reach out to the community through
county fair booth
"The standard in Indiana is that religious people are NOT
pro-choice!"
Of all the comments we received while working at the county fair
booth, that one was perhaps the most astounding. (Although a close
second was: "There's no religious coalition—there's
only one religion!")
Despite occasional negative comments like these, the overall response
to the joint IRCRC-Planned Parenthood booth at the Tippecanoe County
Fair last July was overwhelmingly positive.
Many visitors told us how glad they were to see our booth. Many
were surprised and happy to learn that so many faith groups are,
in fact, pro-choice.
Many appreciated the opportunity to discuss issues such as contraception,
abortion and sex education with people who showed respect for different
points of view.
One lady asked, "are you pro-abortion?" We explained
that IRCRC is neither pro-abortion nor anti-abortion—we simply
believe that each person should be free to make their own decision
in private, based on their own faith and conscience. She then realized
that that was what she, too, believed.
We are very grateful to the over 40 volunteers who braved the
dust, the summer heat, and the rain to spread our pro-faith,
pro-family, pro-choice message to the community.
Visitors to the county fair booth were invited to have their photos
added to the "Prayerfully Pro-Choice" billboard. The photos
included people who are Baptist, Presbyterian, Jewish, United Methodist,
Hindu, 7th Day Adventist, and others.
Take action!
Four important things you can do
1. Write to Senators Bayh and Lugar and ask them to oppose the
nomination of Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court. Read the RCRC's
official position at www.ircrc.org.
2. Sign a petition showing your support for the Prevention First
Act, an important bill introduced in the U.S. Congress that would
address the high rate of unintended pregnancy as well as the need
for emergency contraception for rape victims. IRCRC is collecting
names of Hoosiers who support the bill. The names will be given
to the Indiana congressional delegation. To sign the petition and
to read more about the Prevention First Act, go to www.ircrc.org.
(You can also download a petition and collect names!)
3. Join the IRCRC! If you have not already done so, now is a great
time to join with other Hoosiers of faith across the state and begin
speaking up for reproductive health and choice. You may use the
enclosed envelope to send in your membership form and a generous
donation (or download and print out an online
membership form).
4. Talk to your congregation, civic group, or committee about becoming
a supporting organization of the IRCRC. Let us know if you'd like
to arrange a guest speaker, film showing, or other program for your
group.
IRCRC
is proud to present Indiana's first-ever
All Options Clergy Counseling Training Session
Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2006, 9am-3:30pm with optional clinic tour afterwards
At an Indianapolis church
This program trains clergy in how to counsel women facing problem
pregnancies from a supportive, non-coercive, and faith-based perspective.
A certified trainer from the national RCRC will conduct the training.
The session will be informative and engaging, fostering professional
growth and personal enrichment. Participants will receive a manual
and other helpful resources. Lunch will be provided. A modest fee
will be requested to cover supplies and lunch.
For more information contact IRCRC at info@ircrc.org
or 1-877-441-797 (toll-free) or read more online.
Registration is limited.
Voices of
Faith
Many religious groups and people of faith support reproductive rights.
Read more at www.rcrc.org.
An Episcopal
priest speaks out
"Now, more than ever, we need to recognize that there is no
single Christian perspective on abortion, no single ideology that
passes scriptural muster, no one correct way for people of faith
to think about this issue. .....
"Abortion is to our society what wearing the veil is to Islamic
fundamentalists: a way to balance a society's moral ledger by forcing
something on women...
"I don't buy the notion that, politically, abortion is about
the sanctity of human life. If that truly mattered to people, then
we would hear similar outcries against capital punishment, alcohol
and drugs, guns, war and other threats to life. I think the issue
is women's freedom."
—Tom Ehrich, Episcopal priest, from a column published in
the Indianapolis Star, 11/5/2005
A valuable
resource for Catholics (and non-Catholics too!)
"Conscience, the Newsjournal of Catholic Opinion"
offers news and insight on social, legal, political, and theological
aspects of reproductive ethics from a Catholic perspective. Published
quarterly by Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC), the journal is
a rich source of news, reflection, and commentary. A subscription
is only $15/year. Get one for yourself—or consider a gift subscription
for a Catholic friend!
CFFC
1436 U St., NW, Ste. 301
Washington DC 20009-3997
Tel: 202-986-6093
E-mail: cffc@ catholicsforchoice.org
Web: www.CatholicsForChoice.org
IRCRC goes
to Washington
IRCRC President Kaye McSpadden attended the national
RCRC conference in Washington DC in November. She met national RCRC
leaders as well as colleagues from other state affiliates, including
leaders of our neighboring Kentucky affiliate.
At press
time
On Nov. 30 Planned Parenthood of Indiana presented the
2005 Margaret Sanger Award to Kaye McSpadden for "dedication
to the promotion of religious and reproductive freedom."
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