Religious Left Panel Frets Dobbs Abortion Case Presages ‘Human Rights Crisis’

A “warped vision” of Christian theology is being deployed to justify eliminating a woman’s right to abort her unborn child, according to a panel hosted by the liberal Union Theological Seminary in New York City.

“Abortion has become a wedge issue” charged Union Seminary President the Rev. Dr. Serene Jones. “The decisions are racist and strategic, not moral or theological.”

Jones was joined for the March 22 online event by Jamie Manson, President of Catholics for Choice; Dr. Toddie Peters, Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Poverty and Social Justice Program at Elon University; and Dr. Monica Coleman, Professor of Africana Studies at the University of Delaware.

Panelists asserted a “Christian calling to protect the woman’s right to choose” and explored how progressive faith leaders should rise to combat settled law.

The discussion came as the U.S. Supreme Court is widely expected later this spring in a decision in the pending Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case to chip away at or outright overturn the longstanding Roe v. Wade decision that struck down state restrictions on abortion.

Depending on the outcome, this could be the beginning of an uneven patchwork policy across the United States regarding state-level abortion restrictions. Panelists called the possibility a “human rights crisis in the making.”

Participants asserted that conservative faith leaders and members of the Republican party joined together to support anti-abortion policies for political, not moral, reasons.

Coleman expressed frustration with the conversation as it relates to life through her Liberation theology viewpoint: “So much of the conversation around abortion is about birth, not life. Jesus came so that you may have life, and have it abundantly. Reproductive laws oppress that abundant life.”

Manson called out what she characterized as an extreme position of the Roman Catholic Church on abortion throughout history. “None of the doctrines were developed by anyone who had a uterus,” she complained. The Roman Catholic Church, she alleged, ignores that abortion is a part of the life of the church. According to PEW Research Center, more than 56% of Catholics favor legalized abortion (Project Rachel is a Catholic ministry seeking to serve women vulnerable to or recovering from abortion)

Apparently, the scripture of Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you” is extreme. 

Following up, moderator Christina Cauterucci asked why it seems that Christian leaders make affirmative cases for abortion in certain situations, and how it affects abortions on all levels. 

Peters asserted that Christian leaders, whom she did not identify, use the historical method of “PRIM” to justify abortion, or: prenatal health issues, rape, incest, or the mother’s life. “Requiring women to justify why we should sympathize with their choice is a stigmatizing and damaging framework that we need to get rid of,” the feminist and Christian social ethicist expressed. 

Peters expressed hope for her cause, comparing the pro-choice movement to a change in teaching for the acceptance of LGBTQ+ community in some liberalized denominations. Manson, who identifies as a queer woman, believes that it is dangerous to make the issues equivalent. She charges that the only reason there has been further acceptance of LGBTQ+ persons is because a “white [gay] man’s rights were on the line.” Manson arges that the struggle around abortion has chiefly been and will continue to be a woman’s issue.

This addresses the concept of patriarchy. 

“There is a comfort that women are reducible,” according to Coleman. She believes that part of the Christian faith is to resist anti-blackness, capitalism, and, in turn, patriarchal values in society. Coleman challenged listeners to question what it would look like in society if everyone treated women as whole human beings – specifically those in the Religious Right.

“If you are people of faith, you believe all people are God’s people,” Coleman said, forgetting that we are knit together in our mother’s womb, all fearfully and wonderfully made. 

Suggestions moving forward were to change the question of “Is abortion right or wrong?” to “What should I do when I encounter the possibility/experience of abortion?” Their progressive approaches seek to shift resources from political advocacy toward direct service. 

Throughout the entire conversation, all participants charged that abortion is a small thread of a larger strand of “reproductive health oppressions” condoned by the Religious Right and evangelical Christians.

Reproductive justice is about more than abortion, Coleman insisted: it is about the entirety of a woman’s reproductive life.

Coleman continued with explaining how privileges like access to healthcare, living above the poverty line, and being white all play a part in the discussion of a right to choose abortion. This privilege, she argued, leads to a discrepancy between what people practice, what they believe, and what they then vote for.

“An odd characteristic is that in Evangelical and Catholic communities, in confidence, people will support abortion, or even obtain abortions, but then vote opposite,” alleged Jones, charging that Christians are inconsistent in practicing what they preach in the public square.