STATEMENT ON REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

Our Unitarian Universalist principles call on us to respect the inherent worth and dignity of every person. We support the rights of all people –  no matter their race, gender, religious belief, or wealth — to self-determination, to decide whether to have children, to safeguard control over one’s own body, and to express one’s sexuality freely.

These rights include the right to choose to have an abortion, as the US Supreme Court recognized a half-century ago in Roe v. Wade. We adamantly oppose the effort to overturn or erode that decision. These attacks on the constitutionally-guaranteed right to abortion, if successful, will strip women of control over their bodies and require them to endure forced pregnancies.

As a liberal faith that honors humanity’s diverse views on religion, we believe that no one should be forced to live according to the dictates of someone else’s religion. Those who oppose abortion on religious grounds remain free to live their lives in accordance with that belief. However, in our pluralistic society, they have no right to impose that belief on others.

A government that can dictate what happens in the womb can also invade other private and intimate areas of life. It can ban the use of contraception and take away the right to marry the person you love.

Our courts are failing to protect the rights of vulnerable citizens from attacks by a small but politically powerful minority. We call on Congress and the Pennsylvania General Assembly to pass legislation guaranteeing reproductive rights, including the freedom of choice on abortion.

Approved by the UCWC Board of Directors, 2022