UUA Laments Supreme Court Decision on Federal Abortion Ban
April 19, 2007
(Boston, Massachusetts) The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) responded with deep sadness to yesterday’s United States Supreme Court decision to ban a medical procedure used very rarely to serve the health of women. UUA Director of Advocacy and Witness, Rev. Meg A. Riley, released the following statement:Tragically, the U.S. Supreme Court has decided to politicize a medical procedure which is used rarely and in critical circumstances for women who face devastating alternatives. Any minister who has counseled real families deciding to undergo this procedure knows that it is profoundly painful for all concerned. No political rhetoric can diminish the agony that arises when a family learns that a fetus is not viable, or that a woman’s own health is at risk from a pregnancy. Denying women and their physicians the right to make difficult, medically responsible decisions will undermine the constitution’s right to privacy and will imperil the lives of American women when they are most vulnerable.
Health decisions, including reproductive health, are complex and personal. Eight men and one woman in Washington DC should not determine how families, consulting their doctors and their religious values, will discern the best way to move forward in difficult times. The future for all Americans is dimmer today because yesterday the Court decided not only that women are incapable of making these decisions, but that their very lives are not worth protecting.
Unitarian Universalists will rededicate ourselves to supporting the Freedom of Choice Act to prohibit the courts and legislative bodies from interfering with families’ abilities to make medically sound decisions that are, ultimately, profound questions of conscience.
The Unitarian Universalist Association has supported women’s right to reproductive health services, including abortion, since 1963. This continued support includes advocating leaving medical decisions to doctors and patients and working towards passage of federal legislation to guarantee the fundamental right of choice in reproductive health matters.
For more information contact info @ uua.org.
Last updated on Monday, April 23, 2007.
