“Call to Justice” Launched
As a national education and advocacy organization with a religious constituency, one of our most important responsibilities is providing religious perspectives on major reproductive rights issues of the day. In late spring, we launched our Call to Justice Campaign, with the immediate goal of public education about the judiciary and Supreme Court appointments and the long-term goal of building interfaith support for progressive pro-choice public policy and legislation.

Countering the Misuse of Religion
With so much at stake, the “Religious” Right repeatedly played the “religion” card in their campaign to take over the Supreme Court. The cynical misuse of religious faith demanded a bold response, and RCRC and our clergy and lay religious activists took on the challenge again and again.

The Religious Coalition had an important role in bringing this misuse of religion to light. Reverend Veazey participated in a press briefing organized by The Interfaith Alliance, accompanied other religious leaders in presenting petitions against the “nuclear option” to Senate leadership, and made our concerns known to the progressive and religious communities through essays for two key websites—“On the Brink of Theocracy,” for the Center for American Progress’s www.americanprogress.org , and “Theocracy Now?” for www.beliefnet.com. “On the Brink of Theocracy” struck a nerve with concerned faith groups and was republished by at least five websites, including The American Muslim, and mentioned in several news articles.

Washington Advocacy
We joined with other religious organizations in the Religious Advocates Working Group, bringing Washington-based advocates together to exchange views about legislation. We met with congressional staff and discussed issues such as U.S. assistance for international family planning services, “Prevention First” legislation, and the new Federal Refusal Clause allowing healthcare providers to refuse to provide, discuss or refer for abortion services. Regular meetings and communication enabled the advocates to provide more information to their individual religious constituencies and coordinate efforts when appropriate.

We submitted two “friend of the court” briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court, at the request of the litigants in the cases. The first case, Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of New England, had broad implications for access to abortion services; 41 other organizations signed on to our brief, endorsing our argument about the religious grounds for decision making on abortion and the interest of religions in healthcare. In the second case, Joseph Scheidler v. National Organization for Women and Operation Rescue v. National Organization for Women, we argued that unlawful conspiracies have a negative impact on houses of worship, clergy, and free expression of religion; four other organizations endorsed this brief. In both cases, we were pleased to be represented by outstanding counsel on a pro bono basis. We thank the firm of Covington & Burling for their work in the Ayotte case and the firm of Arent Fox for their work on the NOW case. The Supreme Court heard both cases on November 30. (The decisions were delivered in early 2006. The Ayotte case was returned to the state of New Hampshire for review. In the NOW case, the Court ruled against us, deciding that the federal anti-racketeering law could not be applied to the criminal activities of Scheidler and Operation Rescue, despite the evidence that they were engaged in a conspiracy to close clinics.

RCRC’s introduced a valuable resource for Congress, “Between a Woman and Her God,” a compilation of stories from clergy, women, and others that will be useful to legislators and advocates for years to come. Over more than a year, we collected stories from women of faith who had struggled with decisions about abortion, many of which had not been told before, and from clergy who counseled women, both before and after the Roe v. Wade decision.

Healthcare in a Pluralistic Society
In March, we began an exciting interfaith project, “Reproductive Healthcare in a Pluralistic Society,” to develop a model policy on healthcare services without religious restrictions. The need for this project has been growing for many years, Since 1990, reproductive services have been cut back or eliminated in more than 34 states as the Roman Catholic healthcare system has expanded and imposed its religious restrictions on institutions that serve the public. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ “Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services,” which regulate the provision of services in Catholic affiliated hospitals and other institutions that serve Catholics and non-Catholics alike, prohibit basic services, including prescribing or dispensing contraception of all kinds, fertility treatments, voluntary sterilization procedures for men and women, AIDS prevention information, and abortions. Referrals to other facilities that provide these services are often prohibited. Emergency contraception for rape victims is also restricted. As a result, people of all faiths are losing access to basic health services.

State Activism
 The Kansas RCRC raised moral outrage about Attorney General Phill Kline’s secret and illegal investigation into the private medical records of individuals who had late-term abortions. Reverend Bill Ester, Diane Wahto, and other members of the Kansas RCRC leadership convened a news conference at the Finney State Office Building in downtown Wichita to denounce Kline’s investigation as part of his ongoing campaign to eliminate abortion services in Kansas.

The Michigan RCRC placed public service announcements on Michigan State University’s campus radio station, advertised in the daily campus newspaper, and redesigned a brochure to promote their clergy referral service to MSU students. They also recruited campus ministers to take an All Options Clergy Counseling workshop and built a relationship with the campus health service and Listening Ear, a crisis intervention center near campus.

The West Virginia affiliate was launched with a news conference in the state capital to protest the signing of the deceptively named “Unborn Victims of Violence Act,” which forges new ground in attempting to give the fetus the same legal status as the woman.

The Minnesota affiliate leaders met with Congresswoman Betty McCollum to work with her on amplifying the religious voice on behalf of domestic and international measures for women’s health. Congresswoman McCollum is a strong advocate for U.S. assistance for family planning services in the world’s poorest countries, priority that is shared by many denominations. The Congresswoman encouraged people of faith to bring courage and passion to their activism and to keep in regular contact with their Members of Congress.

The Missouri affiliate was a litigant in a case against legislation that threatens clergy who counsel pregnant teens. The case went to the Missouri Supreme Court. Local clergy and board members testified in hearings, spoke to the media, wrote letters to the editor, and passed resolutions in their religious organizations.

The New Mexico affiliate sponsored the first certification session to enable pharmacists in the eastern region of the state to dispense emergency contraception. In this largely rural state, pharmacists are important healthcare providers. The affiliate also used a grant from national RCRC to place two full-page ads in local high school newspapers to raise awareness about the availability of trained All Options clergy counselors.

Clergy Activism
RCRC’s Clergy for Choice Network is the only national grass roots network for pro-choice clergy. CFC is our growing national registry of 1,800 clergy of all faiths who support reproductive choice through their preaching, teaching, pastoral work/counseling and advocacy. Members of Clergy for Choice engage in a variety of pro-choice activities, including counseling women with problem pregnancies, participating in public speaking events and worship services, advocating to elected officials and testifying before state legislatures, educating congregants about local and national issues, and working with state and local affiliates of the Religious Coalition. CFC is guided by the Religious Leadership Council (RLC).

Innovative Courses
Since 2003, the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, through our Clergy for Choice programs, has made substantial progress in developing and marketing an appealing, replicable Theology and Reproductive Choice course that is offered for credit in seminaries. Our groundbreaking course is the only opportunity for most seminary students to study issues of theology and reproductive choice during their religious education. For many students, our course is the first time they will confront their own feelings, biases, and attitudes toward reproductive choice and examine how they will approach these issues on a pastoral and prophetic level in their future work as clergy and religious leaders. Progress on instituting the course continued in 2005, with a meeting about the course at the influential American Academy of Religion national conference. In another breakthrough endeavor, we completed our new curriculum in Pastoral Counseling for Reproductive Loss and held the first training session in Bridgeport, Connecticut

New Resources
RCRC is a well-known for educational resources on theology and reproductive choice. Scholarly articles on important and cutting edge topics were published during the year in our Education Series, in some cases providing information and insights not readily available from any other source:
From Infertility to Spiritual Abundance, by Dr. Linda Mercadante, professor of theology at the Methodist Theological Seminary
Sexuality as the Locus of Spirituality, by Kee Bohm So, Chicago Theological Seminary doctoral student
Human Stem Cell Research, by Dr. Betty Hoskins, professor of critical studies–science, at Massachusetts College of Art
The Continuum of Choice in Sanatana Dharma, by Swami Abhipad Ananda and Swami Jyotirvaky Ananda
Islam and Reproductive Choice, by Dr. (Imam) Khaleel Mohammed, professor of religion at San Diego State University
Freedom, Responsibility and Reproductive Choice: a Pagan View, by Judy Harrow, chair of the pastoral counseling program at Cherry Hill Seminary and president of the New Jersey Association for Spiritual, Ethical and Religious Values in Counseling

National Black Religious Summit on Sexuality for Clergy, Laity and Youth
The National Black Religious Summit IX on Sexuality, “Breaking the Silence: Restoring Sacred Relationships,” convened nearly 1,000 participants in Washington, DC, in July for a landmark event that inspired, stimulated, and provoked. Adult and youth participants from 123 churches and faith agencies in 24 states came to the Summit, a critical vehicle for breaking through barriers created by diverse biblical interpretation, tradition, shame, guilt, and misinformation. Our workshops, plenary sessions, and worship services provided a safe space for participants to wrestle with difficult issues.

Summit participants engaged in meaningful discourse on religion, sexuality, and the role of the Black church in reducing teen pregnancy, reducing the spread of HIV and AIDS in the African American community, reducing sexually transmitted diseases, and addressing the value of culturally-specific faith-based sexuality education and reproductive health concerns. Our local summits on religion and sexuality have taken on a new vigor as national Summit participants return to their communities with a renewed spirit of determination to reduce the risky sexual behavior among youth, young adults and adults. Congregations that are unable to attend the national Summit use the local summits as an opportunity to learn, grow, and in some cases, change the way they approach spirituality and sexuality ministry. The “Breaking the Silence: Strengthening the Family Community Day” was held in Lafayette, Louisiana at the Martin Luther King Community Center with attendance of 700 from 19 churches. True Vine Baptist Church once again served as the coordinating body for the “Breaking the Silence – Hear Me Now” Minneapolis/St. Paul Religious Summit on Sexuality co-sponsored by the Minnesota state RCRC affiliate. Local summits were also held in New York City and St. Louis, Missouri.

The historic and inspiring African American and Latino "Fabric of Restoration" AIDS Quilt, a beautiful memorial of hope, was unveiled at the Summit. Under the supervision of 75-year-old quilt maker Loretta Griffin, 12 women, most whom are HIV positive, stitched more than 100 pieces of shirts, robes and pictures from loved ones around the country who died of AIDS. The quilt, the only one of its kind from families within African American and Latino congregations and made by the hands of African Americans and Latinas, will be displayed at various BCI events over the next year before it becomes a part of The Names Project.

“Keeping It Real!” Teen Leadership Institute
Held during the National Black Religious Summit on Sexuality, the institute helps congregations and their teens respond to neighborhood concerns. This year, 410 African American and Latino youth participated in the teen leadership institute, of whom 350 had participated in the 7-week “Keeping It Real!” dialogue model at their church. Youth ministers and seminary students served as facilitators during worship, breakout sessions, and creative expressions. Nationally-recognized hip hop speakers Reverends Jacqueline Thompson and Tony Lee opened the institute. Teens embraced themes that included resisting temptation, growing in their spiritual life, staying focused on God’s plans for them and values such as sacrifice, patience and discipline. Teens discussed the need for parents to be more active in providing information and the pain they feel if their father is absent.

Our Approach to Faith-Based Sexuality Education
Our well-regarded programming has established the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice as the local, state, and national resource on faith-based sexuality education for African American Christian communities. “Keeping It Real!” our 7-week Bible-based sexuality education dialogue model for teens, was featured on the NBC-TV Today Show in March. The program is a ministry tool to assist African American clergy and ministry leaders to address teen pregnancy and the spread of HIV/AIDS and enhance the communication and relationships between teens and their parent/guardian, pastor, and adult members of their congregation. “Keeping It Real!” has exceeded expectations as a harm-reduction, behavior-modification model and has far-reaching implications in the way ministries talk about sex, sexuality and spirituality. As we widen our impact through training and implementation, BCI staff, trainers, and state and city coordinators are often asked to provide further information on addressing risky sexual behavior among teens. 

La Iniciativa Latina
The Latino clergy, adults and youth who have received “Manteniéndolo Real!” (“Keeping It Real!” in Spanish) and “Rompiendo El Silencio” (“Breaking the Silence” in Spanish) training through La Iniciativa Latina have confirmed the timeliness and importance of this faith-based approach to ministry and community efforts to reduce teen pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, and risky sexual behavior and increase healthy communication between teens and adults.

La Iniciativa Latina, which is modeled after the groundbreaking Black Church Initiative, educates Latino youth about teen pregnancy, sexuality and reproductive health using faith- and community-based sexuality dialogues. Based on the response to our pilot projects, Latino faith communities will embrace our approach to sexuality education. The two Catholic congregations participating in the pilot program in New York and Delaware underscore this point.

We have participated in a variety of activities to make strong connections with Latino clergy, religious leaders and youth and lay the groundwork for further programming and partnerships. Building on the 2nd Annual Latino Summit on Religion and Sexuality and two Latino Clergy Forums on Religion and Sexuality, we conducted ten day-long facilitator training sessions for 29 congregations and worked with 17 congregations on pilot projects for our faith-based sexuality dialogue models. Among many outreach activities, we presented teen sexuality education workshops at the Alianza Dominicana Annual Youth Conference attended by 7,000 participants and brought 50 Latino youth and adult participants to our National Black Religious Summit on Sexuality, which engaged these teens with African-American youth receiving similar faith-based sexuality education.

Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom
SYRF uses web-based tools to disseminate our pro-faith, pro-choice message and reach more youth and young adults. In February 2005, a revamped SYRF website was launched with new opportunities for online advocacy. SYRF organizing kits are available on the SYRF website. They help students counter the hateful demonstrations of anti-choice groups like the “Genocide Awareness Project” and “Justice for All” and provide advocacy materials about campaign such as the initiative to increase access to emergency contraception.

Following the highly successful first SYRF Student Summit in 2004, SYRF was awarded a grant to hold another summit in 2006 and continue to develop a strong research-based educational component in the program to help young people integrate their spiritual and pro-choice values. The SYRF research project with Professor Christine Gudorf, a scholar known for her research and writing on religion and family planning issues, was completed and published. Professor Gudorf’s graduate student Claudia Livini conducted focus groups in the spring, analyzed the findings, and drafted the final report on the study’s findings and recommendations regarding religiously based, pro-choice values messaging for youth and young adult populations.

In seminaries, RCRC Seminarians for Choice (S4C) program is the only resource to engage students in protecting reproductive and religious freedom. Our S4C pilot project started with five groups and soon expanded to seven groups in at least ten seminaries:

• Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley includes Starr King, Pacific School of Religion, and other seminaries in the San Francisco Bay area;
• Harvard Divinity School and Boston University School of Divinity are part of the Boston Theological Institute consortium and reaches out to Andover Newton Theological School and other seminaries in the Boston area
• Union Theological in New York reaches out to the Jewish Theological Seminary and Hebrew Union College
• United Theological in Minnesota
• Princeton Theological in New Jersey and
• Eden Theological in Missouri.

Our Seminarians for Choice groups hold a wide variety of programs and activities. All of the S4C groups sponsored workshops, often as an annual event, and reported them as the best-attended events each year. S4C also held Peaceful Presence demonstrations at local clinics, participated in Clergy Lobby Days, and sponsored chapel services with pro-choice sermons.

International Concerns
Because reproductive rights and justice is an issue throughout the world, RCRC works on international issues involving women’s health, family planning, and HIV/AIDS education and prevention. We are accredited as a non-governmental organization by the United Nations Department of Public Information and represented at the UN by Reverend Veazey, Board member Lloyd Steffen and Reverend Melanie Miller of the New York RCRC. Reverend Miller meets with the Commission on the Status of Women NGO group and with the organizers of programming for the NGO annual meeting.

In Cape Town, South Africa, our South Africa Initiative provides religious and secular communities with faith-based tools to help prevent HIV/AIDS and pregnancy among young people. Since the South Africa Initiative was launched in 2002, we have served more than 28,000 teens. During 2005, we conducted “Keeping It Real!” facilitator trainings for 35 churches, including eight church-based children’s homes, worked with a wide variety of churches, including those in the Anglican denomination and various Charismatic and Independent churches, and provided “Keeping It Real!” training for 530 young people.