Reproductive Justice

Reproductive Justice

Last weekend, we hosted a training for Our Whole Lives (OWL), making sure we have enough facilitators at UUCC to be able to run the Adult versions of OWL on a regular basis. I’m so grateful to all the board members and other helpers who came to help with the hosting – providing transportation, setting up and cleaning up meals, and some baking help!

I consider our lifespan sexuality education programs some of the most important ministry that we do as Unitarian Universalists. We make sure our people of all ages know that they are loved, we make sure our children and youth understand the ways they can live and love in safer ways, we teach about reproductive justice in all its many forms. Our OWL programs are truly life-saving in so many ways!

Over the years, I have worked and volunteered in several capacities, attempting to build a better world by working for reproductive justice. Many paths have been involved, including working as a sexuality educator and trainer, supporting survivors of sexual assault and intimate partner violence, and escorting individuals into clinics for reproductive health care, past loud foul-mouthed protestors shouting horrible insults at patients.

Spending most of the weekend listening to people talk about sexuality at OBIC gave me a chance to think about what our current reproductive justice situation is in Maryland, and to plan some of the work our nascent Reproductive Justice team at UUCC might do, to ensure that we keep access to abortion care in our state and expand access for people who need care from other states with horrific restrictions. Would you like to join us?

UUCC has recently connected with a new national organization called SACReD, the Spiritual Alliance of Communities for Reproductive Dignity (sacreddignity.org). The mission of SACReD is to empower congregations to become loving, justice-seeking faith communities that fully support the fulfillment of reproductive moral agency and flourishing for all.

We have also joined with the River Road UU Congregation to offer an eight-session curriculum to deepen our understanding of the connection between faith, racism, and reproductive ethics, and to identify strategies and actions for liberation within religious communities and the larger world. Given the recent rollback of Roe v. Wade — and the fact that many people have never had meaningful access to reproductive healthcare — it is a critical time to learn and to act.

To learn more and register for the SACReD program: https://forms.gle/bozq5DXjxpnnRQQx7

To join our Reproductive Justice Team at UUCC, send me an email.

In faith,
Robin

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