Earlier this year, DFLA removed Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) from its board over his co-sponsorship of a bill to reduce the number of abortions that included provisions for contraception. Ryan called the group “fringe” for its opposition to contraception; Day maintained that DFLA does not oppose contraception, but “we don’t take a position on it.”
DFLA participated in Stop the Abortion Mandate (STAM) opposition to the Capps amendment throughout the summer and fall, appearing in a video with representatives from Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America, and other religious right groups, and joining in a press conference with Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Joe Pitts (R-PA), two of the most vociferous opponents of abortion rights in the House. On the Monday before the vote, DFLA participated in a STAM conference call with an array of religious right groups and the USCCB, who all called on supporters to push for nothing short of the restrictions Stupak was proposing. Day called Stupak a “hero” and pledged that pro-life Democrats would vote against the bill if his amendment wasn’t included.
On the religious pro-choice side, “our position, right up to vote, we were advocating for no further restrictions on access to abortion,” said Linda Bales Todd, director of the Louise and Hugh Moore Population Project for the United Methodist Church’s General Board of Church and Society. “We were willing to compromise and leave Hyde [as in the Capps amendment], but we didn’t want them to go any further. That’s where we were.”
“Up until late Friday, we were under impression that the rule wasn’t going to allow a vote on Stupak,” said a person with knowledge of the legislative activities but not authorized to speak on the record. A coalition of religious groups had prepared a letter in support of a rule that Pelosi was proposing that would have barred a vote on the Stupak amendment. But when that compromise fell apart late Friday, there was no time to prepare a coalition letter opposing Stupak.
“We really thought that it was an abortion-neutral bill that people would back,” this person said. “Many anti-choice Democrats would have been satisfied with Capps.”
Others saw it differently. “I was frustrated there wasn’t more done to work out a solution ahead of time,” said Butler, maintaining, “[FPL is] not in a position to do that.”
The UCC’s Powell believes the religious pro-choice perspective has been overlooked in a quest for common ground in reproductive health policy generally and in health care reform. “There is a growing number of us in religious communities who are pro-choice who... have found that there really is not common ground on issues like abortion with some people who say they are searching for common ground.”
But the notion that “people of faith” uniformly oppose sexual justice still animates political decisions. “I think some folks [on the Hill] are still surprised to know that there are faith voices that support a woman’s right to choose and LGBT equality,” said Rob Keithan, director of the Washington Office for Advocacy of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations.
The Rev. Carlton Veazey, president of the RCRC, told RD last week, “My concern also is the Congress is trending toward a dangerous precedent, taking one ideology over another... We need to burst [Congress’] bubble. It’s a perception that the bishops carry that kind of power.”
Powell added that elected officials need to hear that perspective. “When I have had conversations with elected officials, and say, we support a woman’s right to choose, we support access to abortion, and I am a person of faith, they are extremely thankful to hear that. They say we need to hear more from your constituents and people like you.”
*This passage has been modified slightly to more accurately represent the relationship between Eleison and FPL.
Tags: anti-abortion, carlton veazey, catholic bishops, catholics, catholics for choice, common ground, david saperstein, democrats, democrats for life, faith in public life, faithful reform, family research council, hyde amendment, jennifer butler, jim wallis, nancy pelosi, pro-life, pro-life democrats, rcrc, sojourners, stop the abortion mandate, stupak
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