All in United States

"I believed I should be punished for having premarital sex, so I felt I deserved to lose control over my life."

Sharing Truth
Two Abortions, United States, Christianity

“My personhood was erased and overwritten with MOTHER before I even knew who I was . . . I had two abortions after my children were born, and I don’t regret those abortions or think about who those people would have been. I also realize that if I had continued those pregnancies, I would have loved those people. Yes, it can be true that you will love the child if you don’t have the abortion. It’s also true that whatever you thought would be so hard about having that child, whatever made you consider not having a child at that point in your life, may be exactly as hard as you thought it would be. As undesirable, as challenging, as painful as you feared.” Read more.

"As a member of the clergy, I know the role of my religion is not to tell me what is medically permissible."

Sharing Truth
Judaism, United States, Three Abortions

“People often bring up the Bible in these conversations. As a member of the clergy, I am delighted to tell you that the Bible does not forbid abortion. It does, however, forbid placing a stumbling block before the blind, which we could read as analogous to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that regulations cannot impose a substantial obstacle to abortion. We desperately need universal, affordable health care, so that any person can access the best medicine has to offer. That includes abortion.” Read more.

'The two decisions we made to have children were far more morally significant than the decisions to end two pregnancies."

Sharing Truth
Christianity, United States, Two Abortions

“Today’s Christians cannot stay silent while pregnant people in our communities are being harassed, abused and forced to bear children by the state. Recognizing and affirming that parenting is a sacred responsibility means that we need to recognize the moral wisdom my momma shared with me: “You shouldn't have a baby just because you are pregnant – you should have a baby because you want to be a mother, you want to have a family.” Read more.

"I am certainly not the first clergy person to terminate a pregnancy."

Sharing Truth
Judaism, United States, Audio, Later Abortions

“Our sacred stories have the power to humanize an act of healthcare that’s so often vilified and misrepresented by others, particularly those purporting to represent their faith. So if my story can add just a small amount of weight to a much greater tapestry of truth, then consider this one of the most sacred offerings I could make in a lifetime.” Read more.

Podcast ~ "There has been a hijacking of the conversation around religion and abortion."

Spreading Love
Judaism, United States, Audio

“When we are out in the world we have noticed a very loud voice saying religion and abortion don’t go together. And that loud voice actually represents a very small amount of people who believe that. We wanted to do more to support rabbis, cantors and educators to use whatever platform they have to counter that narrative and say very simply that Judaism permits abortion and sometimes requires it.” Listen to the interview.

"It was difficult for me to distinguish that personal grief from the anti-abortion rhetoric I had internalized in my childhood."

Spreading Love
Christianity, United States

“For most of my childhood, I accepted the anti-abortion rhetoric I heard at church wholesale. As I went through high school, my feelings about abortion and other social issues — like LGBTQ rights and gender equality — evolved. Being anti-abortion made less and less sense to me, oddly enough because of other values that my church instilled in me as a child, including social justice, compassion, and nonjudgment of others.” Read more.

"What happens to us has everything to do with who we are, to each other, with how we pick up the pieces of our brokenness and hang onto each other."

Spreading Love
Judaism, United States, Later Abortions

“A standard pro-life talking point on the ethics of abortion for a terminally ill fetus insists that any life, no matter how short or painful, is better than no life at all. I hope, on my good days, that the people who repeat this mantra never have to dwell in the fullness of their ignorance.” Read more.

"It’s revolutionary and beautiful to say that the honor of being created by God includes the right to make moral decisions about your own future and body."

Spreading Love
Judaism, United States

“I was also surprised to learn that Jewish law actively reaffirms principles of reproductive justice. Reproductive justice is a human rights movement developed by Black feminists in the 1990s. The movement goes beyond the reproductive rights movement’s limited focus on abortion alone, and asks us to look at the greater societal power dynamics that impact people’s ability to decide whether to have children and how to raise a family. “ Read more.

"Knowing there were others out there like me, and that they weren’t ashamed, really changed my perspective and helped me on my journey."

Spreading Love
Hindu, United States, Indo-Caribbean Community

“When I decided to have an abortion, my religion’s cultural expectation of purity was swirling in my mind. I knew I wasn’t ready to parent, that to try to do so would cause my dreams to come crashing down. I also knew that going through with the pregnancy would expose that I had done the most shameful thing: sex. As I got older, I felt that there was less potential for me to be slut-shamed in my community — and, furthermore, I stopped paying attention to it. I became more self-assured about my body and my queer sexuality. I stopped listening to some of the constricting messages in Hinduism and found my own path.” Read more.

"Because it respects the inherent worth and dignity of women, providing abortion is a spiritual and moral act."

Spreading Love
Unitarian Universalist, United States

“One of my first abortion patients worked for the local Catholic diocese. As I performed her procedure, she told me that she opposed abortion. I was struck by how she felt compelled to share her objection to abortion while she herself was undergoing an abortion. Over the years, I’ve learned that this is a common experience among women who identify with a religion or belief system that morally objects to abortion. Religious and moral conflicts often lead women to feel worse about terminating a pregnancy. Their religious community does not offer spiritual support. A component of their life that has always provided comfort is no longer there for them. Shouldn’t your religious faith provide you solace during a difficult time? Why does your religion instead make you feel frightened and uncomfortable about your life decisions?” Read more.

"It just wasn’t right—this young woman shouldn’t have died from a botched abortion."

Spreading Love
Christianity, United States

“As a medical student at Mount Sinai, I made several mission trips to Sierra Leone and Ghana. The first time I traveled to Ghana, I saw a patient who had performed an abortion on herself. This was 1985. The young woman developed clostridium; she had lockjaw. She was dying. There were no medicines or vaccines there to treat her. This was not the way anybody’s life should end. I already knew that I wanted to work in gynecology and obstetrics, but from that point on, my advocacy for women’s healthcare really solidified.” Read more.

"People who have abortions do not need to apologize or beg for forgiveness, they have done nothing wrong."

Spreading Love
Christianity, United States

“What is wrong is the wholesale condemnation of people who choose not to remain pregnant, and the undeniable effects of the Church’s interference with abortion access. If Pope Francis were serious about taking the Church in a more progressive, merciful direction, he would stop fanning the flames of abortion stigma and focus instead on protecting women’s health and well-being. He could, for starters, denounce unsafe abortion—for example, when women do not have access to legal abortion care, they may attempt to self-induce or seek out clandestine abortion—which is responsible for 47,000 deaths annually. That would truly be ‘pro-life.’ “ Read more.

"If someone feels like ending their pregnancy is what they need to do, there is no reason why they shouldn’t be able to, and no reason why God would look down on them for it."

Spreading Love
Christianity, United States

“It wasn’t until I got to college that I really started talking to people with various points of view. When I learned is that abortion is not an act of murder that goes against God’s will, but a medical procedure that every person should have a right to, my mindset completely changed. Abortion isn’t this inhumane act that deserves the stigma it has; it’s a health-care service that allows people to live the life they’d like to live.” Read more.

"When bodily autonomy is taken away, to me, that is against Christian scripture, and is against the Gospel I believe in.”

Spreading Love
Christianity, United States

“I believe reproductive rights and bodily autonomy are deeply important. I believe that is faithfulness to Christianity. I believe in access to safe and legal abortions. I believe that the person who can best make these decisions is the person who’s considering these decisions. I have known people who have accessed abortion and reproductive care. Some haven’t had any emotional turmoil over it. And I know people who saw it as a hard decision. I believe every person I encounter, including myself, has the right to their body.” Read more.

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