Volume 6, Issue 1

Keeping Human Life Human

by the Reverend Thomas R. Davis

Like so many issues arising in the debate over reproductive health care, stem cell research has run into opposition from those who value theological abstraction and moral absolutes over the need to ease human misery.

In the mid-19^th century, this kind of thinking denied anesthesia to women in labor on the grounds that Genesis 3:16 requires suffering in childbirth. The opposition to birth control by almost all churches lasted far longer. Some churches actually misinterpreted the story of Onan in Genesis 38 to support the notion that all acts of intercourse must be open to procreation despite the evidence of the hardships that the birth of additional children would bring.

Similarly, the claim that life begins at fertilization threatens to hinder stem cell research that could lead to cures for a number of dreaded diseases. Stem cells come from two sources:

1. fetal tissue donated by women who have had an abortion and
2. frozen embryos created by infertile couples in their attempts to conceive. Stem cells have the capacity to develop into any kind of body tissue — brain tissue that could lead to a cure for Alzheimer's or Parkinson's; spinal cord tissue that would permit a Christopher Reeve to walk; and possibly pancreatic tissue that might cure diabetes.

What leads people to place a greater value on an embryo than on research that might lead to a cure for ailments that ravage the lives of millions of people, now and into the future?

One explanation may be the seduction of a purist theology that obviates any worry about exceptions (there are none) or consequences (they don't matter).

Another possibility, however unconscious, is sexism. So many of these moral absolutes manifest themselves only when women's lives are involved. When it comes to war, unconscionable disparities in wealth, and threats to the environment, the anti-abortion churches are so much more flexible. In the 1950s when there was no women's movement and no abortion rights, those who today oppose abortion said nothing when fetal cells were used in research to develop the polio and rubella vaccines.

Or perhaps absolute moral principles so paralyze the imagination that opponents of stem cell research never even consider the consequences for sick people. To permit them to make such considerations, I invite them to visit the nursing home where my wife sits in a wheelchair mute, with her eyes closed, a victim of Alzheimer's.

Yes, it is true that one cannot take any means to relieve suffering. And yes, there are slippery slopes here. But the argument that a one-cell embryo is, as one opposition group puts it, "our tiniest human being," is unpersuasive. For me, it is an abstraction that is no match for the countless human tragedies occasioned by disease.

To block research into the cure of devastating illnesses in the name of an abstraction becomes, however unintentionally, a form of idolatry. Jesus, like the rabbis of the Talmud, saw that legalisms could be used to suppress rather than enhance our humanity. He affirmed that the law is subordinate to human welfare, not the other way around. Our humanity does not lie in the structure of a cell, but in the way we treat each other. That is what makes and keeps human life human. And that is the proper purpose of Biblical ethics.

Rev. Davis chairs the PPFA Clergy Advisory Board.

Recent Threats To Stem Cell Research

In August, the National Institutes of Health issued a set of guidelines that allow federally funded scientists to experiment with stem cells derived from embryos, so long as those scientists do not extract the cells from the embryos themselves. These guidelines were based, in part, on a finding by the Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) that stem cell research was not equivalent to human embryo research. Congress has banned such research annually since 1995 in connection with appropriations for HHS.

A spokesman for President Bush has declared that he would oppose such research. The administration has the power to reverse the previous HHS ruling, and there is every reason to expect that it will.

Your support on this and the many other issues that we will confront in the coming months — funding for family planning and comprehensive sexuality education, not to mention possible U.S. Supreme Court nominations — your support is vital.Please contact the public affairs department of your local Planned Parenthood affiliate, or call 212-261-4721 to find out what you can do.

PPFA Clergy Advisory Board Members Keep Busy

Rev. Tom Davis, PPFA Clergy Advisory Board chair, had a busy January. He, together with Rev. Kathleen Buckley, public affairs organizer for Planned Parenthood Mohawk Hudson (NY), spoke to students at Albany Medical College on January 22 about the morality of abortion and the days of the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion when abortion was a crime. Rev. Davis returned to Albany a week later to participate in a panel on organizing clergy at the Family Planning Advocates annual conference, and the next day came down to New York City to address students at the Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion, as part of another PPFA seminary day (see Clergy Voices, January 2000.) Rabbi Cheryl Jacobs, vice president for public affairs at Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic (NY), joined him.

Rev. Mark Pawlowski, CAB member and executive director/CEO of Planned Parenthood of South Central Michigan in Kalamazoo, went off to Alaska where he was the principal speaker at the affiliate's Roe v. Wade event, "Faith in Choice," in Anchorage on January 18. A clergy panel discussion followed. Rev. Pawlowski spoke at similar events in Fairbanks and Sitka.

Dr. Daniel C. Maguire, CAB member and president of the Religious Consultation on Population, Reproductive Health and Ethics, reports that his book, Sacred Choice: The Right to Contraception and Abortion in Ten World Religions, is in press at Augsbug Fortress and will be available in May 2001. (To order, check www.augsburgfortress.org later this year for details.) This is a summation for nonspecialists of the scholarly version — to be published at a later date — that will be an indispensable resource and a landmark in the literature on reproductive rights. Dr. Maguire states, "It shows the solid pro-choice side of the world religions that co-exists alongside the much better known 'no choice' position."

Spotlight On Affiliate Clergy

Ed. Note: This is the second in a series that salutes the clergy who occupy leadership positions in Planned Parenthood affiliates and to whom the entire Planned Parenthood family are indebted.

Rev. Dr. Sheron C. Patterson, a member of the board of Planned Parenthood of North Texas (PPNT) in Dallas, has been senior pastor of the Jubilee Methodist Church in Duncanville, TX, since 1995. With 10 years of experience, two master's degrees in theology, and a doctorate in ministry, all from the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University, Rev. Patterson answered her bishop's call to start a nontraditional church. She instituted a form of worship that she describes as a kind of "pep rally for God."

At her church, Rev. Patterson does something that too many clergy fear to do, and too many religious institutions find difficult to support. She talks about sexuality and reproductive health. Shortly after arriving at the church, Rev. Patterson, in response to the problems she observed in the community and together with her congregation, launched the "Love Clinic" to foster healthy relationships between adult Christian men and women. Now, in its sixth year, the monthly lecture series has become famous, and Rev. Patterson is recognized as a leading authority in the area of Christian relationships.

The Love Clinic recently added summer programs for young people between the ages of eight and 18.The weeklong Christian teen camps discuss healthy dating, self-esteem, responsible sexuality, and communication skills.Participants are encouraged to remain abstinent, but they also learn about contraception. Pre-teens cover much of the same material in programs appropriate for them. "It's not a sin to inform a youngster about his or her body. The sin is keeping them ignorant," Rev. Patterson says.

It was the Love Clinic that brought Rev. Patterson to PPNT. In 1998, the Love Clinic invited Dr. Henry Foster to Dallas to speak about solutions to the shockingly high rates of teen pregnancy in Texas and in the nation. To help ensure a large turnout at a luncheon for community leaders and clergy from all over the city, Rev. Patterson called on Kathryn Allen, now senior vice president for public affairs at PPNT. The following January, PPNT presented Rev. Patterson an award for her work in education. Shortly thereafter, she was asked to join the board where her major concerns are teen pregnancy and women's health. She also serves on the advisory committee of PPNT Clergy for Responsible Choices.

In addition to her work with Planned Parenthood, Rev. Patterson hosts a live radio talk show that airs on Sunday mornings before church services, as well as a portion of the ABC Wednesday radio program, "Rejoice," which is heard in 22 cities. She is also the author of six books.The most recent is called New Faith: A Black Christian Woman's Guide to Reformation, Re-Creation, Rediscovery, Renaissance, Resurrection, and Revival.  Written to explain what Scripture really says to these women, the book shows that when the church is filled with sexism, racism, class-ism, and ageism, it damages women.

Deeply committed to improving life in the community, Rev. Patterson has been the recipient of many awards, particularly for her efforts to encourage and challenge women to discover their potential, value, and talents. Her church has recognized her unique blend of talents by making her the first African-American to be ordained a deacon and elder in the North Texas area of the United Methodist Church. Last, but hardly least, she is married to a banker and the mother of two sons.

Planned Parenthood is blessed to have the counsel and wisdom of clergy like Rev. Patterson and especially so, when, like Rev. Patterson, they are active on so many fronts.

More Than Prayer

A Nice, Friendly Chat

Last November, Jim Richardson, executive director, Planned Parenthood of East Central Michigan (PPECM) in Flint, asked Rev. Elizabeth Morris Downie, a loyal Planned Parenthood supporter, to host a meeting at her church. The objective — to educate State Representative Patricia Lockwood about proposed legislation, introduced at the behest of Michigan Right to Life and expressly designed to deprive Planned Parenthood affiliates in Michigan of funding for family planning services. Rev. Downie's church, St. Jude's Episcopal, just happens to be located in Rep. Lockwood's hometown.

Over coffee and bagels, Rep. Lockwood also had the opportunity to hear from Kim Owens, PPECM public affairs director and Rabbi James Michaels. Another loyal Planned Parenthood supporter, first at Planned Parenthood of North East Pennsylvania in Trexlertown and now in Flint, Rabbi Michaels is a PPECM board member and chairs the Public Affairs Committee. (His father, George Michaels, is a great hero in the abortion movement. As a State Assembly Member 30 years ago, he changed his vote and thereby secured the passage of the legislation that made abortion legal in New York State in 1970. That vote cost him his political career.)

Rep. Lockwood learned about the whole range of health care services that Planned Parenthood provides. She also learned about the contraceptive services that Planned Parenthood affiliates in Michigan provide to 50,000 individuals, or nearly one-third of the clients in the state's family planning program, and the consequences of denying them easy access to reproductive health care.

But just as important she had an opportunity to hear from clergy who support a woman's right to choose when and whether to become a parent. They told her of their concern that polarizing the debate about reproductive health care precludes useful discussion about how best to serve the needs of diverse communities with differing values and traditions.

Rep. Lockwood, who opposes abortion on religious grounds, felt that the conversation helped reinforce her determination to ensure that family planning, which she supports, does not become embroiled in controversies about abortion.

Rev. Downie often regrets that she cannot devote more time to Planned Parenthood, but the time that does give is well spent. And if a bill to defund Planned Parenthood affiliates in Michigan is introduced when the legislature returns to Lansing in January, Rev. Downie is ready and willing to testify against it.

Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania Tackles the Tough Questions

Early in November, Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh, after months of patient and careful planning, hosted a one-day conference, "Sexuality, Spirituality & Theology: Moving Toward A New Understanding." The conference addressed the exploitive and secular values portrayed so appealingly in the media and encouraged religious leaders to foster a healthy appreciation and respect for sexuality and for a principled sexual ethic based on a loving regard for one another. The conference brought together religious leaders, sexuality educators, and parents in order to develop practical strategies to combat sexual violence, the problems of teen pregnancy, and the spread of sexually transmitted infections.

Rev. Dr. J. Philip Wogaman, senior minister of Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, DC, and best known for counseling former President Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky episode, got the conference off to a great start with a plenary session address, "Sexuality: Why Is It So Difficult?" (Rev. Wogaman will be the featured speaker at a prayer breakfast at the PPFA annual conference in Dallas next month where his talk will be "For the Love of Life.")

The conference continued with two sessions of concurrent workshops. The first session of workshops covered sexual abuse, homosexuality, basic human sexuality education, and HIV/AIDS in the African American Faith Community. The second session offered resources to help parents speak with their children and a discussion about whether religion and feminism are mutually exclusive.

More than 40 members of the clergy attended, and the program was so enthusiastically received that more than one-third of the clergy signed up to attend a "next-steps" meeting. PPWP stressed that clergy who agreed to attend this meeting were committing themselves only to beginning a discussion, not necessarily to working on any future activities.

At the meeting, clergy discussed what worked and what did not in order to improve subsequent conferences. They also considered a number of great ideas for future outreach to and education in the faith community:

1. future meetings where clergy could discuss common concerns,
2. an interfaith event for parents,
3. events during National Family Sexuality Education Month in October designed for faith communities,
4. family movie nights to attend popular movies with a story line on family life issues that would provoke discussion,
5. training for clergy and lay leaders to help families dealing with sexuality issues, and
6. a conference on bio-medical issues relating to sexuality.

For more details on what is a superb model for reaching out to local clergy in your area, contact PPWP's vice president for education, Brenda Green.

Planned Parenthood Clergy Address Education Directors

Rabbi Balfour Brickner, a member of the PPFA Clergy Advisory Board, and Rev. Dr. Sheron Patterson, board member of Planned Parenthood of North Texas (Dallas), participated in a panel, "Sexuality and Spirituality," at the annual Education Directors' Retreat last October in Tucson. Rev. Cynthia Breen, director of religious education at the Unitarian Universalist Association in Boston, also participated. She spoke about the "Our Whole Lives" curriculum (see p. 6).

Rev. Patterson related how she became involved with sexuality and relationship issues at her church, first for adults and later for youngsters, in what she has called the Love Clinic (for more on Rev. Patterson and the Love Clinic, see p. 3). Her account of the youth program demonstrates why clergy, as respected leaders in the community, can bridge the gap between parents who want their children to learn about their sexuality but are reluctant or embarrassed to provide the information and children who need this information but are unwilling to turn to those who are best suited to provide it. As Rev. Patterson puts it, "Church-based, comprehensive sex education is the strongest response we can offer [to the lack of communication between parents and their children]."

Rabbi Brickner provided a Jewish perspective on abortion and sexuality. He pointed out that the inclusion of the Song of Songs in the Old Testament demonstrates that the ancient sages believed that sex was for pleasure as well as procreation. He also offered concrete suggestions about how to work with clergy in the community.A number of the participants commented that they wished that there was more time to learn about different strategies for approaching faith communities.

There was great interest in this session, as evidenced by suggestions for additional topics and further discussion at next year's retreat.

Planned Parenthood Mourns The Loss Of Bishop Barrett

Bishop George Barrett, an outspoken advocate of abortion rights who served as an executive with Planned Parenthood of Santa Barbara (CA) between 1972 and 1977, died in December at the age of 92. "Compulsory pregnancy is obscene and mandatory motherhood a badge of slavery," he wrote in a column published in the Santa Barbara News-Press in 1989.

In 1975, before the Episcopal Church formally allowed such action, he ordained four women into the priesthood. He was temporarily banned from the Episcopal ministry as a result, but he defended his action as having "solid theological support."

Bishop Barrett, who grew up in Pasadena, was ordained a priest in 1934 after receiving both a BA and MA from the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA. He held two doctorates, one from Occidental College in Los Angeles and one from the General Theological Seminary in New York.

Our Whole Lives Training

Based on the "Guidelines for Sexuality Education" that SIECUS first published in 1990 and updated in 1996, the Our Whole Lives (OWL) curriculum is the result of a collaboration between the Unitarian Universalist Association and the United Church of Christ (UUA/UCC). The curriculum covers grades K-12 and adult. (See Clergy Voices, May 2000, p. 4.) Several affiliates have and are offering training in the curriculum to community leaders, including members of the clergy.

PPNYC
Five members of the clergy, including two who had traveled from Boston, were among the more than 50 people who gathered at Planned Parenthood of New York City (PPNYC) last December to learn about the 7^th - 9^th grade portion of the curriculum.

PPNYC was so impressed with the consistent and comprehensive approach to sexuality education that it purchased the rights to the curriculum. PPNYC now conducts trainings for professional educators from many different organizations. PPNYC has also adapted the curriculum for New York City schools and has found that it works well in a variety of settings.

Rabbi Linda H. Goodman, a member of the PPFA Pro-Choice Religious Network, attended the training, along with the director of youth activities at her synagogue in Brooklyn. She intends to place the OWL curriculum in a Reformed Jewish context.She also hopes to correct mistaken negative attitudes about religion and sexuality and to address problems of self-esteem and, as she put it, "spiritual confidence."

Accredited Planned Parenthood Trainers
A UUA/UCC committee selected a number of Planned Parenthood educators for training that certifies them to train others in all or part of the five sections of the OWL curriculum (K - 1^st grade, 4^th - 6^th grade, junior high, senior high, and adult). For example, Don Dyson, the Planned Parenthood of Delaware education director, has been trained in all five parts of the curriculum. Clergy have participated in a number of the trainings that the affiliate has conducted. Most clergy have simply wanted to learn more about the curriculum, but a few will serve as facilitators. Eric Ramirez, vice president of education, Planned Parenthood of Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma (Tulsa), plans a training in the senior high school portion of the curriculum in the late spring for leaders in UCC and UUA congregations, other interested religious congregations, and community youth groups.

Educators from Planned Parenthood of Santa Barbara, Ventura & San Luis Obispo Counties in California have participated in a local OWL training with teen theater and presentations on contraception, although the affiliate does not conduct OWL trainings.

To find out whether a trainer is available in your local area, please call (212) 261-4721.

A Seminarian's Long Journey

by Carrie Ross

I have traveled a long way from the "Life Chain" demonstrations and other abortion protests I attended as a child. Growing up in a conservative fundamentalist church, I always saw abortion as a religious issue. We learned that God demanded strong, child-producing marriages, and that wives and children owed unquestioning obedience to the male leadership of the family. Males held the power in the family and in the church; women devoted themselves to motherhood and service in marriage.

I balked at the sexism inherent in these values during high school. I could not bring myself to the point of seriously questioning my faith, but I wrestled with the contradiction I saw between church teaching and church practice. The church taught about a loving community but let violence against women and children go unchallenged.

It took me a while to understand the connection between abasing women and the denial of sexual and reproductive autonomy for women. I also could not understand why families should not determine for themselves whether they had the economic, physical, and emotional resources to care for additional or any children. Eventually I began to see reproductive freedom as part of the larger question of justice for women and to understand that, while such freedom was necessary to ensure equality between men and women, it was not sufficient.

My struggles with the church continued at college. I found it increasingly difficult to reconcile my absolutist faith tradition with the feminist principles that were becoming central to my life. I was angry at the church for denying the full inclusion of so many people and for reducing complicated, highly personal decisions to generic dogma, devoid of the compassion professed in church teaching. I could not accept my church's claim to care about children when too often that care applied only to children not yet born.

At college I met people who embraced a faith built on a passion for justice and social responsibility. They understood faith as a call to action on behalf of the oppressed. I began to understand justice itself as a theological matter and saw that the well-being of women, children, and other voiceless populations had to be an integral and essential component of any theology I could accept.

Now, I am interested in exploring how believers can mitigate the harmful effects of church practice and develop the nurturing aspects; how they can pursue love and justice for women, children, and men of all groups.

The prophet Micah [6:8] posed the query, "What is good, and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?" Even as I pursue a graduate degree in theology, I am unsure about my place within Christianity or any religious system. But I do know that if the church claims to love children and care about the health of women, it must seek justice for them. It must be an advocate for the rights of self-control and self-direction, not only for the sake of women themselves, but also for the families they may choose to build.

Ed. Note: Carrie Ross is a student at the Union Theological Seminary (UTS) in New York City. Following a seminary day at UTS (see Clergy Voices, January 2000), she suggested, and UTS agreed, that an internship with the PPFA Clergy Project could fulfill, in part, the seminary's requirement for fieldwork. Rev. Mark Bigelow, a member of the PPFA Clergy Advisory Board, supervises Carrie's theological reflection upon her work and issues of reproductive rights and sexual health. Carrie is assisting Rev. Bigelow with a monograph on the morality of abortion.

Responsible Choices Update

PPFA ran an ad about the Responsible Choices Action Agenda in the November issue of the, a publication of the United Church of Christ, that got one reader very angry. He charged that, by accepting such an ad, the paper appeared to sanction views contrary to those of God and that it was no wonder that the UCC was losing members.

"Not so," said Rev. Tom Davis in a letter that the UCC News published in December (see below). Eleven other UCC ministers, all members of the PPFA Pro-Choice Religious Network, also signed the letter.

Clergy support for Planned Parenthood, including that of many UCC clergy, reflects the belief that God calls us through the Scriptures to minister to all, especially those most in need.

It is our faith conviction that individuals must be allowed to make their own decisions about abortion. Further, we believe that family planning and comprehensive sexuality education are the best ways to reduce unintended pregnancy and the need for abortion.

Planned Parenthood agrees. It provides contraceptive and education services to nearly 5 million Americans and performs nearly 200,000 abortions annually. Serving those on the margins of society, Planned Parenthood continues to be, as it has always been, an integral part of the struggle to achieve justice for women and their families.

Perhaps that is why a number of clergy have found that their association with Planned Parenthood has not driven people away, but has, instead, encouraged many to join their congregations.

The Responsible Choices Action Agenda seeks to increase the services that prevent unintended pregnancy, improve the quality of reproductive health care, and ensure access to abortion. The Responsible Choices Action Network supports the goals of the agenda.