Hello, and thank you.  My name is Joan LaMunyon-Sanford.  I am the Director of the New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, which is a Coalition of progressive faith groups and denominations, including the Presbyterian Church, United Church of Christ, Unitarian Universalist and both Conservative and Reform movements of Judaism. We are Pro-faith, Pro-family and Pro-choice.

Before Roe v. Wade, women died of self-induced or illegal back alley abortions. In 1965 alone, 17 percent of all pregnancy-related deaths were due to illegal abortions.  It was no accident that the persons who decided in 1967 to defy the oppressive and unjust laws were clergy. The Reverend Howard Moody of Judson Memorial Church in New York City knew that women needed reliable information on how and where to obtain a safe, but illegal, abortion.  He founded the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion. At the start, 21 ministers and rabbis were involved. By the time Roe v. Wade in 1973, 1400 clergy were involved, and the network had spread across the country.

In 1973, the United Methodist Board of Church and Society called a meeting of Protestant and Jewish leaders to discuss the threat from some conservative denominations to overturn Roe v. Wade.  The result of this meeting was the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights, renamed the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice in 1993.

Our member faith groups are pro-choice because we know that our faith does not give simple and easy answers to complex and difficult questions. It doesn’t promise to spare us from making tough decisions. It just promises that we won’t have to face those choices alone.

We’re pro-choice because we know that our faith cannot answer the question of when a fetus becomes a person.  But we know that a woman is a person. We are persons endowed by God, the U.S. Constitution, and common sense and decency with rights and responsibilities that we must exercise to the best of our ability, using our own best judgment.

And while our various religious traditions may teach various things about when, if, and how we should sacrifice ourselves for others, no one—not our lovers, not the church, not the government—no one gets to decide what is, or is not, an appropriate sacrifice for us to make.

We’re pro-choice because we have a dream.

A dream of a world where every person has full access to all the health care they require — provided conveniently and compassionately.

A dream of a world where people don’t grasp at the ridiculous and faithless notion that there is, or can be, a rule for every occasion and that knowing and enforcing enough rules will save us from the difficult work of making complex ethical decisions.

A dream of a world that believes that families are created in many ways. And that all families should have the resources to care for their children with dignity.

A dream of caring communities that ensure that all young people have access to medically accurate, comprehensive sex education. And that understand that sexually transmitted infections are not a result of moral failure, and the best medical information, prevention, and treatment is available to all.

A world that believes that sex is a glorious component of the human experience, a gift of the Divine, to be expressed with respect, responsibility, and joy.

10 a.m to 2 p.m. Rally at the Round House and march on Paseo de Peralta to the Railyard and back! We will have signs, or bring you own! Wear comfortable shoes, bring hats, sunglasses and bottled water. We are planning for speakers, poets and music.

Women and men are welcome…all come show your support of women’s full reproductive rights and pursuit of equality in America!

If you plan carpools, there is ample parking in lots close to the Capitol building on a Saturday. If you wish to use the Rail Runner, you can meet us at the Railyard and march east to the Round House!

The SFPD will be providing security detail and traffic control. Event is coordinated with the NM Capitol Building. It is a peaceful rally and march; come and express yourself and let’s show what New Mexico looks like in supporting women’s equality in America!!

If you are on Facebook, you can signup here:  .

You can signup here on the UNITE!  website.

Or you can email the NM Religious Coalition.

Did you know that New Mexico has one of the highest rates of women who are uninsured? Last year the legislature passed a bill that would have established the NM Health Insurance Exchange, but it was vetoed by the Governor.

A health insurance exchange is a competitive health-care marketplace where the uninsured, underinsured and people in the individual market will be able to buy affordable health coverage under the nation’s health-reform law, the Affordable Care Act.  This exchange could offer new ways to rein in insurance companies and make sure they provide quality care and improve health outcomes.

Each state has been tasked under the law with creating their own version of an exchange. If a state fails to create an exchange, the federal government will create one for it. In New Mexico, Governor Martinez appears to be opting to bypass the Legislature and create an exchange via Executive Order.

The Governor wants insurance industry executives, whose primary goal is to profit off our healthcare system, to to sit on governing board of the Health Insurance Exchange!!!  It would be like the fox guarding the henhouse.”

Health-reform advocates support more health-consumer voices on the exchange and Sen. George Munoz has introduced a Health Insurance Exchange bill that would be an excellent opportunity to have a discussion about the exchange and give the public a voice in the debate about how the exchange is structured.

Call the Governor at 505-476-2200 and ask her to allow the Health Insurance Exchange issue to be heard this legislative session.  Tell her, “Don’t let the Health Insurance Industry sit on the NM Health Insurance Exchange Board!  It would be like the Fox Guarding the Hen House!”

Call or email the members of HCPAC  who voted to table HB 51, Cmte. Chair Gail Chasey, Rep. Moe Maestas and Rep. Bill O’Neill, and thank them for standing with the young women of New Mexico and voting to table the Parental Notification for Minors.  You can read the statement by the NMRCRC Board on why we must oppose these types of bills.

Question: Why do we thank our legislators for voting to table bad bills instead a do not pass?

Answer: A vote to table a bill kills it, but a do not pass vote moves the bill to its next committee, or to the House or Senate for an up or down vote.

Thank you to all of those who joined in spirit at the committee hearing through facebook    twitter   or the NM Legislative webcast.  The 2012 Legislative session ends at noon on Thursday, Feburary 16th and hopefully, we are in the clear for this year!

SAVE THE DATE!!!  Legislative information and planning meeting.

Please join us at a membership meeting to discuss this year’s legislative session and help us plan for next year’s 60 day session.

FEBRUARY 26, 2:00 – 4:00 pm.

I was very sick with almost non-stop nausea and terrified when I had my illegal abortion. I had two children and was distraught to think that I might not survive to care for them. I was equally certain I could not care for a third child. The tremendous feeling of relief and well-being after I returned home is one of the brightest memories in my life. I am daily thankful that I was able to find and afford an unlicensed, highly capable provider.

My children are adults now and I have never doubted that my decision was the right one. Coerced pregnancy benefits no one.

Politicians and community leaders who play politics with women’s health care need to have public exposure wherever they go.

Mic Check: SHAME, SHAME, SHAME.

I am in California. If someone wants to read my story, my name is Jean Richards

I am a Quaker member, who was raised Episcopalian by a very progressive anti war minister.

Anyway sometime in 1979 80 I became pregnant when my IUD became dislodged without me knowing about it. I was in school and had no interest whatsoever in continuing the pregnancy,  and would have been upset if my boy friend had been interested.  I was a feminist (and still am) and am very grateful that this was before abortion stigma really took hold.  Of course I had heard of the protestors, but really my decision to have a private abortion came from the fact that I am a doctor’s daughter and was kind of a snob about it.  I wanted use my own personal doctor.

It was about five hundred dollars in those days and I did have to ask my parents for the money. They gladly gave it and never voted Republican again. My mother in particular…to the end of her days spoke about it.

I wasn’t really that fond of my doctor but will never forget him holding my hand as I went under for the anesthesia.  After tht I was fond of him!  When I woke up I thought it had not even happened. I went home and took a codeine (another benefit of a private abortion,) called all my friends and had a party.  Five of us had had abortions that year:  I guess our periods had synchronized as we lived in close proximity.

Anyway one can never know the future but I do know myself, and my life would have been awful if I had an unwanted child at that time. I would have never met my husband or had the perfect teen who is my chosen child.  May I add that my husband comes from a country where abortion is illegal: even birth control is banned and it is one of the poorest countries on earth.   He still cries about the suffering:  had two girlfriends have back alley abortions in straw huts. Guess what they both had IUDs that fell out too: but at the time they had to self inserted IF YOU CAN IMAGINE. Fortunately both girls survived, which he knew at the time; he has recently found out that their fertility also did. But the experience ws truly dangerous and traumatic and he came to this country for his freedom and met me. now we have our pro choice (perfect student too) teen. I would never have the family I have today if it was not for abortion. And may I add my parents may have continued to vote Republican for years!

in friendship:

pro choice activist

Sunday, January 22, 2012,

3:00 pm

St Bede’s Episcopal Church,

1601 S. Saint Francis Drive,

Santa Fe, NM

Do you have a story to share about your abortion experience?  An abortion speakout is a way to begin to remove the stigma surronding abortion and share our stories in a safe, non-judgemental space.

Read some Abortion Speakout Stories

The decision of Obama Administration officials to block a change in policy that would have helped reduce unintended pregnancies among teenagers is deeply disappointing. The administration promised the American public that it would make decisions based on sound science and in the best interests of women’s health and this decision to retain the age restriction of 17 on obtaining emergency contraception over-the-counter fails on both counts. And it fails our teenagers, who need and deserve better access to basic reproductive health care. Tell the President we must do better!

Here’s what happened: Medical experts with the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended that Plan B – a brand of emergency contraception – be available to all people without a prescription. Emergency contraception is a safe and effective form of the basic birth control pill and can be taken soon after unprotected sex to prevent pregnancy; it does not act to cause an abortion. But at the last minute, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius intervened and blocked the FDA from removing the age restriction on over-the-counter sales of Plan B.  

While we may want our teens to abstain from sex until they are more mature, the fact is that seven in ten young people are sexually active by the time they are 17 .The age restriction of 17 poses a terrible problem for a young woman who is a survivor of rape or incest and does not have the option of talking with her parents if she was attacked by a relative or is from a violent home. It puts the young woman who had unprotected sex or a condom breakage in a difficult situation – she may not be able to get a prescription for emergency contraception in time to avert an unintended pregnancy.  

The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice constantly advocates for greater public and private investment in sexuality education for youth. But we must be realistic – when teens are already sexually active, they must have access to the means to protect themselves. The decision to continue the age restriction on emergency contraception does not help them!

Please contact the Administration to protest this decision!

 Operation Rescue, Traditional Values Committee

Preparing for 2012 Legislative Session!

Early indications are that although the 30-day 2012 legislative session should be a “budget only” session, anti-choice forces are planning to introduce several anti-choice, anti-family bills.  According to their newsletters and action alerts, they are hoping to pass a “Parental Notification” bill, which would endanger and make it difficult, if not impossible, for the most vulnerable teens to seek an abortion.  Will they introduce any other bills? We don’t know, but their letter tells their supporters… “Defending traditional values is the daunting task before us. Without your support, we cannot preserve the dignity of life and marriage in the current legislative environment.”

We also know that in addition to targeting abortion providers, they are also asking their members to harass the property owner of Dr. Boyd’s clinic and theUNMBoard of Regents. UNM, along with our local providers, has been a leader in the nation in providing opportunities for future doctors to be trained in the latest and safest practices in abortion care. 

To be able to respond quickly to these attacks on reproductive justice, we must have your email address!!  If we don’t, please send in the reply strip at the bottom of this newsletter, you can also text NMRCRC to 22828, or go to our website and enter your email address.

Woman Jailed, After Self-Administered Abortion

By Amanda Marcotte, Alternet.org

Jennie McCormick, a resident of Idahoand a mother of three, has spent the past few months of her life in a legal and social situation that calls to mind the trials of Hester Pyrnne, the heroine of The Scarlet Letter. As reported by Nancy Hass of Newsweek, McCormack’s ordeal started when she learned she was pregnant by a man who was doing time for robbery.

Realizing that she couldn’t afford another baby, nor the $500 fee and two trips to get an abortion (becauseIdahorequires women to wait 24 hours after their first visit to the doctor to “think it over”), McCormack resorted to buying RU-486 from a vendor online. The police eventually arrested McCormack and charged her with an illegal abortion, claiming that she was overIdaho’s legal limit of 20 weeks for an abortion. Since the exact gestational age can’t be determined, charges have been dropped for now, but prosecutors are retaining the right to re-charge McCormack. In the meantime, she’s become a pariah in her community, been fired from her job, and even had to face social workers who are basically denying her aid to care for her children.

Even in super-liberal New York City, a woman is being prosecuted (albeit in a less drastic way) for a self-abortion…

Calendar items for 2012

 Save the date!  We will be commemorating the Roe v Wade anniversary at a local church inSanta Fe on the afternoon of January 22nd.  Our Prayerfully Pro-choice service will include several clergy speakers and an abortion speak out.  Make sure we have your email address so that we can send your invitation!

 Annual Roe v Wade Rally!  Monday, January 23rd,12:00noon, NM State Capitol Bldg.  Inside, in the Rotunda where it’s warm! To maximize our visibility, wear pro-choice t-shirts, buttons and stickers!  No signs are allowed inside the Capitol.

2012 Legislative Session  January 17th—February 16th, 30 “short” session.  According to the NM Constitution, the 30 session is for the sole purpose of preparing the state budget.  However, the Governor can put any of her priority bills on the “Governor’s Call”.  We anticipate she will include at least one anti-choice bill on her call.

Forty-six years after the Supreme Court’s landmark Griswold v. Connecticut decision legalizing contraception, we are still fighting to make contraception available and affordable for all! Help is on the way, however, if the Affordable Care Act health reform law is fully implemented in a way that recognizes women’s needs. First, millions more women will become eligible for Medicaid in 2014, giving them public health insurance that covers family planning. Next, women just above the Medicaid eligibility threshold will be able to buy subsidized health insurance through state or federal exchanges and there is hope that the federal government will include contraception in the benefits package required for those private insurance plans.

But for women with private insurance – either through their employers or, eventually, through the state insurance exchanges – the key to affordability of birth control will be removal of those co-pay and deductible requirements. That decision will be made by officials of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) later this summer, after they receive a report from the Institute of Medicine on which women’s health services should be added to the list of preventive services that are already exempted from co-pays and deductibles in private insurance plans.

“Why would we want to get rid of something (birth control) that has been named one of the top 10 great public health achievements of the 20st century?” asks Raising Women’s Voices co-founder Byllye Avery “If anything we should be increasing funding for family planning!” She wants you to tell HHS that contraception is prevention by signing the petition on RWV’s website and doing everything we can over the summer to build public demand for this next important milestone in improving women’s access to affordable contraception.

You Can’t Be Pro-Choice Unless You Support Equal Access

Over the past two months, members of the Obama Administration have issued statements that show a continuing need for education about the damaging impact of federal funding bans on women’s lives, and the positive role that the federal government must play in helping women to obtain the abortion care they need. The National Network of Abortion Funds recently issued this memo to the Obama administration:

If recent statements are any indication, the Obama Administration would very much like to rewrite what it means to be “pro-choice.” The Administration continues to claim that it supports the right of a woman to make her own decision about whether and when to have a child. But it turns out that the Administration only stands firm when that woman has economic resources.

It’s more than a contradiction in terms and much more than a “compromise” to deny access to abortion care to a low-income woman. The 120,000 women who called our abortion funding hotline for help last year can tell you what it really means. Not having enough food for the children you already have. Having the electricity shut off because you need that money to pay for an abortion. Selling your car, even though you need it to get to work. Not being able to return to college next semester.

Yes, we understand that many in Congress would like to end the legal status of abortion altogether. Because funding restrictions are a step toward that goal, capitulation will only embolden our opponents and get us even more onerous obstacles blocking a low-income woman’s path to an abortion.

The reproductive rights, health, and justice communities will fight – until we win – for the ability of every single woman to make the decision she feels is best for herself and her family. We will keep working until we have restored federal Medicaid coverage of abortion – and ensured it is once again available on the same terms as coverage for women continuing a pregnancy. Because nothing less will guarantee that a woman can make this fundamental decision for herself.

Continue reading at RH Reality Check.

Survey Shows Support for Abortion Services

by Rev. Carleton Veazey

The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) applauds the findings of a major new survey released today that shows strong support for access to abortion among Millennials (those ages 18-29), mainline white Protestants, African American church-goers, and other religious groups. The survey confirms RCRC’s position that most Americans who are affiliated with a religious tradition support access to legal abortion. The Public Religion Research Institute of Washington, DC, conducted Millennials, Religion and Abortion Survey, which it describes as the largest national public opinion survey on the influence of religion and moral values on the abortion issue. However, the conclusion of the survey – that young people are conflicted about the morality of abortion – differs from our experience with young people on more than 60 campuses, through our Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom program. Millennials have grown up in the most diverse and pluralistic society in America’s history and recognize and respect differing moral views about abortion, which is very different from saying they are conflicted about abortion. In our experience, Millennials support access to abortion services in large part because they believe that individuals should be able to obtain the health and medical services that they themselves determine they need – based on their religious and moral values, conscience and circumstances. In a significant finding, 59% of Millennials surveyed said they think that “abortion can be the most responsible decision a woman can make in certain circumstances.” The survey findings indicates that clergy and religious leaders have a responsibility to speak up in support of women who have had an abortion and to provide assurance that abortion is not a sin and is not condemned or even mentioned in the Bible. Seventy-eight percent of women having an abortion have a religious affiliation, according to The Guttmacher Institute, a public policy and research organization.

Operation Rescue Now Targeting Dr Carhart and Germantown, MD

After last summer’s unsuccessful attempt to intimidate providers and abortion rights supporters in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Operation Rescue has announced plans for a “Summer of Mercy 2.0, targeting Dr. LeRoy Carhart in Germantown, MD, July 30-August 7.

Forty minutes from Washington, DC the targeting of this clinic in Germantown is a convenient opportunity for Operation Rescue to attempt to solicit media and donations for their continuing campaign of harassment against legal and safe abortion providers. But it also attracts unstable extremists who are dangerous and unpredictable. The Religious Coaltion for Reproductive Choice will be joining together with other Pro-choice organizations to mount a serious and determined showing of public support for Dr. Carhart and the Germantown, MD, clinic.

Dr. Carhart was a close friend and colleague of Dr. George Tiller, and hasn’t just provided medical care to women in need. He’s also:

• challenged repressive laws at the level of the Supreme Court (most notoriously with Carhart v. Gonzalez)
• shared his medical expertise with other doctors and increased the number of providers who can handle the difficult procedures he specializes in
  publicly spoken out against the hatred of the anti-abortion movement, never being intimidated by their threats.

We are gathering messages of support to Dr. Carhart and the clinic staff. To send your message, go to: www.rcrc.org and click on “Summer of Trust-Faith in Action” link.

Last summer we were all shocked and saddened by the news of Dr. George Tiller’s assassination. Since then, women who needed late term abortion care have had nowhere to turn, until now.

To address this need, the staff of Curtis Boyd, MD PC has decided to provide late term abortions into the third trimester on a case by case basis. They are honored to have Dr. Susan Robinson and Dr. Shelley Sella, both of whom worked with Dr. Tiller, joining their staff to perform these procedures.

Appointments for late abortions are now available. The NM Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice is working closely with Dr. Boyd’s staff to provide Chaplaincy services to patients through our Clergy for Choice Network. We will also be needing more home stay hosts. Can you open your heart and your home to Dr. Boyd’s patients? Contact us.

From the Executive Director

What do you think about our Newsletter’s new look? In these financially difficult times, we must be creative and thoughtful in how we use your donations. One of the changes we have made is to send a condensed version of our newsletter through the postal mail and encourage you to check out the full version on our website.

The New Mexico Religious Coalition has joined with Raising Women’s Voices for the Health Care We Need, as the Regional Coordinator for New Mexico. RWV is working to make sure women’s voices are heard in the health reform debate and women’s concerns are addressed by policymakers developing national and state health reform plans. You can find out more at www.raisingwomensvoices.net.

We would also like you to welcome Felicia Salazar, our Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom-UNM, campus organizer. We would also like to thank the staff of the UNM Women’s Resource Center for volunteering to be our campus sponsors and look forward to educating, organizing and empowering UNM students to put their faith into action and advocate for pro-choice social justice.

Legislative Priorities 2010

The legislative session is halfway through and we need your support for to pass our priority bills before the 2010 Legislative Session ends. No anti-choice bills have been introduced, so this session gives us the opportunity to put all of our energy into passing these priority bills:

• Requiring that all students take Health Education as a Graduation Requirement. In addition to students learning about Nutrition, Hygiene and Drug Abuse resistance, this bill will make sure that all student are taught Sexuality Education from a Certified Health Educator. Rep. MH Garcia
• Allowing and Regulating Stem Cell Research in New Mexico. This bill would allow Stem Cell Research in New Mexico, including Embryonic Stem Cell Research, and would prohibit Human Cloning. Rep. Al Park
• Formation of a Task Force to Study the Causes of Unintended Pregnancy and Make Policy Recommendations. Sen. E Griego

Make sure that we have your current email address so that we can let you know when to take action on these important bills!

Scott Roeder Convicted of First Degree Murder of Dr. Tiller!!

The first-degree murder conviction of Scott Roeder in the death of Dr. George Tiller serves the cause of justice, and we thank the prosecutors and jury for their clear message that violence against abortion providers will not be tolerated. We pray the verdict sends a clear message to other violent extremists that there is no justification for murdering abortion providers and that their crimes will be punished to the full extent of the law.

It rests on all of us to take action to stop the hate. We must demand that government ensures the safety of abortion providers and clinics. We must speak out clearly against legislation that restricts access to reproductive care. We must challenge at every moment hate-mongering, fear, and lies.

Dr. Tiller was a champion of women’s health and a brave and committed physician who never backed down from providing a medical service to women in need. We celebrate his life and praise his family for their service and support. Let us emulate their commitment to women’s health and in this way honor Dr. Tiller’s life and his memory.
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