The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
35 Years of Partnership with The United Methodist Church

IRD's Misinformation Campaign Rejected by United Methodists

Groups that perennially try to stir up turmoil in mainline Protestant denominations are conducting a misinformation campaign designed to sever the United Methodist Church’s affiliation with RCRC. They have introduced a resolution that will be considered at the UMC General Conference April 23-May 2 in Ft. Worth to end the 35-year partnership of the UMC and RCRC. The main force behind the effort is the Institute on Religion and Democracy, a Washington, DC, political lobby.

The IRD’s ongoing campaign against RCRC aims to distort our mission and programs and vilify our good name. Reproductive choice is not the only sensitive issue that is exploited by the IRD and its allies. Gay rights and doctrinal interpretation are also targets of their attacks. RCRC’s Medical Right research – as well as research by religion scholars and others - shows that the IRD is part of a coordinated effort to undermine mainline Protestantism by exploiting certain issues. The ultimate goal is to render America's largest denominations incapable of standing up to right-wing politics.

The UMC agencies that are members of RCRC - The General Board of Church and Society (GBCS) and the Women's Division of the General Board of Global Ministries – support continuing the affiliation, as does the Methodist Federation for Social Action, an independent social justice group that is also a member of RCRC.

The UMC and RCRC have a long history of working in coalition with other faith groups for social justice. Together with other members of our coalition, we bring forward the moral power of religions to ensure that the dignity of women and their childbearing decisions are respected, preserve the ability to make reproductive decisions on the basis of faith and conscience, and help denominations and congregations address reproductive health issues and concerns.

While the IRD and its allies erroneously claim our work is limited to “expanding abortion,” the fact is that our coalition works to:
• reduce unintended pregnancies,
• expand comprehensive sexuality education,
• increase funding for domestic and international family planning programs,
• increase funding for HIV/AIDS programs in countries hard hit by the pandemic,
• support equitable health insurance and child health measures,
• ensure reproductive health services remain available when community hospitals are taken over by religiously affiliated hospitals,
• counter the many attempts to enact coercive, divisive, and insensitive legislation, and
• protect the right of individuals to follow their own religious views in reproductive decisions.

It is a grave error to believe that the Institute on Religion and Democracy and its allies are concerned about women and families. Rather, they are part of a movement in American politics and culture that happily uses personal issues to agitate and rally people to their cause. This movement is a stark contrast to the mainline churches and Jewish traditions, which have been models of compassionate, respectful, and thoughtful discernment about human reproductive issues and have assiduously sought to be inclusive of the diverse views of their members.

In the name of justice and decency, it is time to end the silence about the IRD.