Diocesan News and Updates

[Episcopal News Service] One of The Episcopal Church’s presiding officers and its Office of Government Relations affirmed the church’s commitment to equal access to reproductive health care on May 3, after a leaked draft of a pending U.S. Supreme Court ruling indicated the court was poised to overturn the landmark 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade that ensured for women nationwide the right to obtain an abortion.

The Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, president of the House of Deputies, responded with a written statement that cited decades of General Convention resolutions in support of women’s access to birth control and abortion. In particular, Jennings said, The Episcopal Church’s governing body passed a 1976 resolution that expressed “unequivocal opposition to any legislation on the part of the national or state governments which would abridge or deny the right of individuals to reach informed decisions in this matter and to act upon them.”

“And yet, for half a century, the promise of equal access to reproductive health care has never been fully realized,” said Jennings, who is 71. “For nearly my entire adult life, Christian extremists have fought to restrict access to abortion with invasive laws, demeaning patient requirements and clinic regulations that go far beyond what is required for patient safety. … Now, these extremists are on the verge of making good on a half-century of threats”…