The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) is the national community of religious and spiritual people, denominations, and organizations from all faith traditions dedicated to achieving reproductive justice. For people of faith, reproductive justice is a moral imperative, grounded in centuries of sacred texts.

Through education, mobilization and advocacy, we are leading the religious movement to advance the health and well-being of women and families.

RCRC mobilizes the moral force of thousands of clergy, religious leaders, and other people of faith. Together, we work for ethical and responsible policies, laws and resources that make reproductive health care and rights accessible to all. Our religious traditions call us to this sacred work.

As people of faith, we are committed to ensuring that all people and communities can express the blessings of sexuality with health and wholeness.

A New Direction
After years of steadily increasing attacks on reproductive health care in the name of religion, we are at a crisis point. Hundreds of bills are introduced each year in Congress and state legislatures to roll back women’s access to reproductive health care and self-determination. Many are proposed by groups seeking to impose specific religious views on laws governing all Americans. At the same time, reproductive options are stigmatized in the broader public dialogue.

We are committed to a new direction.

We need more health care resources and options, not less. We need the educational, economic and social resources – including a clean environment, freedom from violence, and policies that promote family-friendly workplaces, gender equity and inclusiveness – that enable us to make decisions for ourselves and our families.

We are lifting the national dialogue over abortion and birth control, from blame and judgment to understanding and wholeness.

Our Core Commitments
We put our faith into action with core commitments:
Education – we provide churches, synagogues, temples and religious leaders with faith-informed resources about religion and reproductive justice, to offer guidance to teens, adults and families and to help advance reproductive health care; in the public square, we provide a compelling faith-based voice that respects religious diversity.
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Mobilization – we train and organize faith activists, religious leaders, seminarians, students and others and partner with other justice organizations to expand support for reproductive justice.

Advocacy – we empower people of faith to positively influence the way in which individuals, institutions, and communities think about sexuality and human reproduction and to push for policies and laws that foster justice and equality.

History

RCRC was founded in 1973 to safeguard the newly won constitutional right to privacy in decisions about abortion. The Coalition founders were clergy and lay leaders from mainstream religions, many of whom had provided women with referrals to safe abortion services before the Supreme Court legalized abortion in Roe v. Wade. The founders believed that there would be at most a ten-year struggle to secure the right to choose. In fact the struggle is far from over. It has changed and intensified, and the stakes are growing.

Today, the Religious Coalition comprises national organizations from major faiths and traditions and religiously affiliated and independent religious organizations, affiliates throughout the country, the national Clergy for Choice network, Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom, The National Black Church Initiative, La Iniciativa Latina and individuals who support reproductive choice and religious freedom. We have a strong presence on Capitol Hill, working for policies to ensure reproductive healthservices are available to all, regardless of income and to strengthen reproductive justice.

While our member organizations are religiously and theologically diverse, they are unified in the commitment to preserve reproductive choice as a basic part of religious liberty.

Our rational, healing perspective looks beyond the bitter abortion debate to seek solutions to pressing problems such as unintended pregnancy, the spread of HIV/AIDS, inadequate health care and health insurance, and the severe reduction in reproductive health care services. We support access to sex education, family planning and contraception, affordable child care and health care, and adoption services as well as safe, legal, abortion services, regardless of income. As an organization committed to reproductive justice, we work for public policies that ensure the medical, economic, and educational resources necessary for healthy families and communities that are equipped to nurture children in peace and love.