Wisconsin Faith Leaders and Advocates Speak Out Against Republican Attacks on Abortion Rights
WISCONSIN — Local faith leaders, including members of the Wisconsin Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, along with abortion advocates and storytellers, joined Free & Just this week for a virtual roundtable to speak out against extreme Republican efforts to restrict abortion access. Participants called attention to House Speaker Mike Johnson’s interpretation of faith to justify his push for a harmful, anti-abortion agenda in Congress.
Leaders of varying faith traditions shared how their religious beliefs inform their support for reproductive freedom, in direct contrast to Speaker Johson’s radical use of faith as a weapon to assert control over Americans’ lives. Participants also included an OB-GYN and women with personal abortion stories who spoke to the human impact of Wisconsin’s abortion ban and advocated for access to abortion care.
Quotes from abortion storytellers:
“I truly believe I received the type of abortion that every patient deserves to receive and I hope to continue the fight in Wisconsin and across the country to see access restored to our patients,” said Jennifer Vollstedt, a former labor and delivery nurse who shared her decision to end a wanted pregnancy prior to the reversal of Roe v. Wade. “I received excellent care from my nurses, providers, and the chaplain, and I think it was really impactful in my ability to recover emotionally from this experience that was really painful… I believe really strongly that everyone deserves that support and medical-based care in decisions they’re making with their provider and themselves.”
Dana Pellebon, Executive Director of RCC Sexual Violence Resource Center in Dane County, explains how she felt a “cloud of judgment” from the religious community she grew up in while deciding to have an abortion, and how she instead felt relief and peace after she received the procedure: “It took away the ‘mythos’ that surrounded abortion for me, and that was freeing and beautiful… As I support people now through their decisions and they say ‘I’m afraid of what’s next,’ I can share what was next for me, and it doesn’t have to look traumatic. It doesn’t have to look like anything other than ‘I went to the doctor, I took care of myself, I came home, I felt better, and then I went on living my life.’”
“It is an absolute joy to be able to provide this non judgemental, thoughtful care for women, to meet them where they’re at, to recognize that they are critical parts of communities, and those communities involve their deeply held beliefs and their faiths,” said Dr. Kristin Lyerly, an OB-GYN from Green Bay, Wisconsin. “...What I tell my patients is listen to your heart, talk to your faith leaders. They do find great solace when they go back to [their faith leaders] and other people who support them in their lives and they can tell their story and not be judged.”
Quotes from Faith Leaders:
“When we talk in interfaith settings, one of the realities that we have to recognize is that different faiths have different teachings about all these questions– when does life begin, when does personhood begin,” said Rabbi Bonnie Margulis, Executive Director of Wisconsin Faith Voices and Chair of Wisconsin Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC). “...Our different faith traditions all recognize the diversity of faith traditions in this country and that we have a First Amendment right to follow whatever our different faith teachings are. Therefore [abortion] should be a matter between the pregnant person, their medical personnel, their conscience, their God, and not something for our legislators and our government to be involved in.”
“People’s faith beliefs should not have any say over what other people can do and other people’s rights… What Christian Nationalists are doing is about power and control. I don’t even think it’s about their faith,” said Pastor Tim Shaefer of First Baptist Church. “If you feel that strongly about abortion then don’t get an abortion. But that doesn’t give you the right to tell everybody else that you can’t get an abortion. There has to be pushback against that kind of creep of faith perspectives into crafting laws and preventing people from exercising their own rights.”
“I don’t think it’s a logical argument. I think it’s one about control,” said Rev. Denise Cawley, a Unitarian Universalist Minister who has served as a chaplain at Planned Parenthood, of Mike Johnson and other Christian Nationalists' use of the Bible to justify their attacks on abortion. “I don’t think it's at all about the truth of what any sacred text says.”
“It’s their [Christian Nationalists’] mandate to gain control in every possible situation,” said Diane Duggan, a minister at Circle Sanctuary. “...This attack [on abortion rights] has been part of the playbook of the Christian Nationalists for the last 20 years. What we need to do is continue to chip away at it and to show folks that this is not the way to go.”
More Information on Participating Faith Leaders and Advocates
Faith Leaders:
Rabbi Bonnie Margulis is the Executive Director of Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice and the Chair of Wisconsin Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC).
Rev. Tim Schaefer is pastor at First Baptist Church of Madison who has counseled several members of his church who have sought abortion care.
Rev. Denise Cawley is a Unitarian Universalist Minister who has served as a chaplain at Planned Parenthood.
Rev. Dr. Chris Ross is a pastor at the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Watertown, WI.
Rev. Dianne Duggan is a minister at Circle Sanctuary, a Nature Spirituality church in Barneveld, WI, and Assistant Director of the Lady Liberty League.
Abortion Storytellers and Advocates:
Dr. Kristin Lyerly is an OB-GYN from Green Bay. In an op-ed for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Dr Lyerly warns that abortion restrictions could be even worse under Speaker Mike Johnson.
Jennifer Vollstedt is a former labor and delivery nurse who shared her decision to end a wanted pregnancy in this op-ed for TruthOut.
Dana Pellebon is the Executive Director of RCC Sexual Violence Resource Center in Dane County. She shared her personal abortion story in an interview with PBS Wisconsin.
You can watch the event here, and learn more about how House Speaker Mike Johnson’s dangerous anti-abortion record is a threat to reproductive rights here.
If you’re interested in speaking with any of the roundtable participants, please email zoe@freeandjust.us.
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About Free & Just
Free & Just is fighting to stop attacks on reproductive freedom and rights. We’re working with people across the country to share real stories to show the devastating consequences of attacks on our reproductive freedom. We all deserve the right to control our bodies and lives. That’s why we’re sharing our stories, raising our voices, and fighting for our future. Follow Free & Just on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
