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				Coalition for Reproductive Choice
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ISSUES  |  RESOURCES  |  SPEAKERS BUREAU

Speakers Bureau

Tired of polarized debates and the same old rhetoric?

The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice Speakers Bureau provides civic and religious groups with engaging, thoughtful, and faithful views on controversial issues. We have a variety of speakers who are experts on subjects related to reproductive healthcare, reproductive choice, reproductive justice, and religious freedom. Representing a range of religious backgrounds, they can address issues from Christian, Jewish, Unitarian Universalist, and interfaith perspectives. RCRC speakers are appropriate for a forum, meeting, dinner, or rally, as well as other venues and events.  

To learn more about having one of our speakers at your event, please contact the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice at 202-628-7700 x13 or fill our our webform.

bigmanRabbi Amy Bigman was ordained by the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion in 1992.  She has served congregations in Michigan and Missouri and has also served as the Assistant Director of the Ecumenical Institute for Jewish - Christian Studies in Southfield, Michigan. Rabbi Bigman served on the board and executive committee of the Missouri Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and was the recipient of its 2007 President's Award. 

 

fowlerReverend Anne Carroll Fowler is an Episcopal priest and Rector of St. John's Church in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. She is a former member of the Boards of Preterm and Planned Parenthood and of the Ethics Committee at Faulkner Hospital, a former chair of the Women-in-Crisis Committee and the Sexuality Study Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. She is a  participant in the Public Conversations Project, the ongoing dialogue among "pro-life" and pro-choice leaders in Boston. She is currently President of the Board of the Massachusetts Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry,  and co-convener of the Pro-Choice Religious Leadership Council of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.

 

MDFReverend Matthew Davis Fox is the Northeast Regional Field Organizer for the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. He also serves as Associate Pastor of All Souls Bethlehem Church in Brooklyn, New York, and is ordained through the United Church of Christ. Before attending seminary at Pacific School of Religion, Reverend Fox was a community organizer for New York Lawyers for the Public Interest and a legislative aide for New York State Senator Thomas K. Duane.

 

CHReverend Cedric A. Harmon is the Associate Field Director for Religious Outreach at Americans United for Separation of Church and State in Washington, DC.  As the liaison to religious communities, religious leaders, clergy and congregations nationwide, he encourages active and vocal involvement in matters of religion in public life. He serves on the National Religious Leadership Roundtable, the National Advisory Board of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies at the Pacific School of Religion, the Advisory Committee of the National Black Church Initiative of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, and the African American Clergy Council of the Human Rights Campaign. He is the Associate Pastor of City of Refuge in Washington, DC. 

 

BLReverend Bill Levering is a Presbyterian Church (USA) minister, a professor, and an activist and scholar in the pro-choice religious community. Reverend Levering has taught the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice's "Theology of Reproductive Choice" course online and reactivated the Pennsylvania Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and served as its president through 2006. He also has been active on the Planned Parenthood Federation National Clergy Advisory Board. He is senior pastor of the First Reformed Church in Schenectady, New York, and has also served churches in Philadelphia, Haddonfield, New Jersey, Binghamton, New York, and Oxford, Pennsylvania. He taught speech and preaching at Princeton Theological Seminary and also taught at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, The College of New Jersey, New Brunswick Theological Seminary, and the State University of New York in Binghamton. He holds a PhD in rhetoric and communication from Temple University and the Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary.

 

margulisRabbi Bonnie Margulis holds a masters degree in Judaic Studies from New York University and was ordained at Hebrew Union College in 1992. She is the director of clergy programming for the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, where she runs the Clergy for Choice Network, a registry of more than 2,200 pro-choice clergy of all faiths around the country. She also oversees the Religious Coalition's signature All Options Clergy Counseling training program and provides training in both All Options Clergy Counseling and Pastoral Counseling for Reproductive Losses. Rabbi Margulis is a member of Reform Judaism’s Commission on Social Action, where she sits on the Women and Minorities Task Force. She is also a member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis Justice and Peace Committee and chairs the Women’s Rabbinic Network Social Justice Committee. In 1989, Rabbi Margulis was a legislative assistant at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, lobbying in coalition with other faith organizations on behalf of Soviet Jewry and other refugee groups.         

DSReverend David Selzer, an advocate for family planning and sexuality education, has been an activist with the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice in Minneapolis and, currently, Buffalo, New York, where he is Rector of the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd. Reverend Selzer received the Master of Divinity degree from Nashotah House Theological Seminary. He has an extensive background in many aspects of pro-choice advocacy, including as a campus chaplain, a counselor to women, and a spokesperson on legislation. He is an author of "Pro-Faith, Pro-Choice,  A Manual for Clergy and Religious Leaders," an RCRC publication, and "Teach Us to Number Our Days," RCRC's comprehensive sexuality education bibliography for faith-based curriculum. 


BTReverend Rebecca K. Turner has been Executive Director of the Missouri Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice since June, 2001. Reverend Turner holds a Master of Arts degree in Religious Education from New Orleans Theological Seminary and pursued doctoral-level studies in theology and ministry at Eden Theological Seminary. Holding ministerial standing in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), she has served as minister in Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), United Church of Christ, and Baptist congregations. Reverend Turner serves on the board of the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Partnership of St. Louis. 

 

SimmonsThe Reverend Dr. Paul Simmons is Clinical Professor in the Department of Family and Geriatric Medicine at the University of Louisville School of Medicine and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Philosophy,  where he teaches courses in Medical Ethics, Business Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, and Human Rights. He is an ordained Baptist minister and Director of the Center for Ethics in Ministry and Medicine, which he founded and heads. Simmons has contributed to the national and international dialogue on medical ethics through his writings on topics such as abortion, genetics, in-vitro fertilization, elective death and health care. Reverend Dr. Simmons lectures and writes on a variety of issues, including business ethics, sexuality and family, aging, peacemaking, religious liberty, and values in education. He has written five books, including Birth and Death: Bioethical Decision-Making (Westminster Press, 1983) and and The Southern Baptist Tradition: Religious Beliefs and Healthcare Decisions (Chicago: Park Ridge Center, 2002). Mercer University Press has accepted his book on Faith and Health: Religion, Science and Public Policy for publication.


LSReverend Lloyd Steffen serves on the Board of Directors of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. He has been Vice-Chair and is currently serving as Secretary of the Board, and he represents the Religious Coalition at United Nations Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) conferences. Reverend Steffen is Professor of Religion Studies and University Chaplain at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He has lectured and written about reproductive health issues and among his books are  Life/Choice: The Theory of Just Abortion (Pilgrim Press, 1994) and Abortion: A Reader (Pilgrim Press, 1996), which presents the wide range of views on abortion in world religions. 


If you would like to learn more about available RCRC speakers, please contact us at 202-628-7700 x 13 or info@rcrc.org.