Roe v. Wade – A Response From The Rev Dr Betty Stapleford

UU Justice Ministry of California
1731 Howe Avenue, #579 Sacramento, CA 95825 Phone (916) 441-0018

Reflection on SCOTUS Decision on Roe v Wade
24 June 2022

I have been thinking a lot this week about the impact by the decision by a majority of the U.S Supreme Court, overturning Roe v. Wade were to become the law of the entire United States. It is hard to even imagine what could happen to the lives of hundreds of thousands of women in our country who would no longer have the right to determine what happened to their bodies. They could become pregnant while living in abject poverty, resulting from rape or incest, occurring when they were underage, causing potential death to the mother, or countless other circumstances

Further, our principle that affirms “the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process” in no way supports the undemocratic ruling that six judges, mostly men, can make a decision for all the women of child-bearing age in the country and the men who are in relationships with them. That is certainly not what democracy means to me as a UU. And statistics indicate that is not the belief of over 70% of the people in our country. Nor does this ruling promote “a free and responsible search for truth and meaning.”

So, what can we do? I am convinced that we must use all our compassion and strength to oppose this ruling in every way that we can. For those who think it is not right for them to have an abortion, they can reject that option for themselves. But they do not have the right to impose their decision on others. We do not live in a theocracy where a minority can impose their beliefs on others.

We say we live in a democracy, which means that the will of all the people should rule. As a person of faith, I believe that I am called to speak truth to power and my hope is that others will join the call to regain our democracy from those who want to impose their will on others.

Affirmed,
The Rev Dr Betty Stapleford
President, Board of Trustees

UUA Denounces Attacks on Abortion Rights and Demands Reproductive Justice

Resources below:
Planned Parenthood
Abortion Finder
ACLU