PPTCR Clergy Advisory Group
Clergy Members
Rabbi Freedman, Chair -- Beth Shalom Austin
Rev. Freddie Dixon -- Imani Community Church
Rev. David Hoster -- St. George's Episcopal Church
Rev. Bobbi Kaye Jones -- St. John's UMC
Rev. Seirin Barbara Kohn --Austin Zen Center
Sharon Lastrapes -- PPTCR Board
Rev. Susan Sprague -- Trinity United Methodist
Rev. Bill Young -- MCC Austin at Freedom Oaks
Pastoral Counseling
Planned Parenthood patients may request a confidential consultation with a member of our Clergy Advisory Group for pastoral counseling free of charge.
For more information about the Clergy Advisory Group, please contact Simone Nichols at 512-275-0171 x.116, or at simone.nichols@ppaustin.org.
For too long the public debate about reproductive rights has been one-sided. Planned Parenthood wishes to provide a forum for other voices, and an affirming and compassionate message for women who too frequently hear messages of condemnation and criticism about their reproductive rights. We believe that private, personal decisions about childbearing should be made by a woman, in consultation with her family, her doctor, and her conscience, not by the government or politicians.
When facing an unintended pregnancy, women deserve compassionate care and unbiased, medically accurate information about all options so they can make informed, responsible choices. They also deserve moral support from family, friends, and spiritual leaders. To provide that support, there is a long tradition of clergy involvement with Planned Parenthood as members of Boards of Directors and as leaders in the movement to reform laws that limit reproductive rights. PPTCR's Clergy Advisory Group, organized in February 2003, makes visible the connection between sexuality and spirituality, and reminds us that how we live in relationship to one another has moral and ethical aspects.
PPTCR's Clergy Advisory Group welcomes religious and spiritual leaders of all faiths who share our belief that the right to control one's own fertility is a fundamental human right. Current members of the group represent Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, Unitarian Universalist, Baptist, and Metropolitan Community Churches, a Jewish synagogue, and a Zen Buddhist congregation.
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