UU Justice Ministry of California

Tag: Clarence Thomas

  • Family Equality Resources and Tools

    ALERT!
    Human Rights are subject to change!

    LGBTQ+ families need your support, friendship, resources, and an occasional cup of coffee with you, now, more than ever. Share this resource with your ….. EVERYBODY!

    Family Equality’s mission is to advance legal and lived equality for LGBTQ families, and for those who wish to form them, through building community, changing hearts and minds, and driving policy change. source: familyequality.org

    FamilyEquality.org

    Family Equality’s Vision Statement:

    • We envision a future where all LGBTQ families, regardless of creation or composition, live in communities that recognize, respect, protect, and value them.
    • We envision a world in which every LGBTQ person has the right and the opportunity to form and sustain a loving family, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, race, religion, national origin, geography, socioeconomic status, disability, or the intersection of those characteristics.
    • Finally, we envision systems of service and support that are free of discrimination and that maximize opportunities for LGBTQ youth needing permanency and LGBTQ adults seeking family formation through adoption, foster care, assisted reproductive technology or other means.
      source: familyequality.org

    From the UUA President: UUs Remain Committed to Reproductive Justice

    UUs Remain Committed to Supporting Reproduction Justice Justice

    UUA Denounces Attacks on Abortion Rights and Demands Reproductive Justice

    Planned Parenthood
    Abortion Finder
    ACLU

    https://www.getreligion.org/getreligion/left-and-right-where-do-us-religious-groups-stand-on-abortion-rights-issues
    from GetReligion.com

  • A Reflection on SCOTUS Decision Roe v Wade – by Karen Stoyanoff

    A Reflection on SCOTUS Decision Roe v Wade – by Karen Stoyanoff

    24 June 2022
    UU Justice Ministry of California
    1731 Howe Avenue, #579 Sacramento, CA 95825
    Phone (916) 441-001

    In January, 2023, it will be 50 years since Roe v Wade became law of the land. I was so happy at that point, not because it meant I could legally have an abortion – that’s not what the decision really affirmed – but because it supported the fundamental American belief in individual rights.

    We have been a country where no one gets to tell us what to believe, whether in terms of a religion, the right not to follow a religion, or basically what’s good and what is evil. I knew from that time forward that there was a possibility that this time, right now, would come, and that if or when it did, it would be the thing I would fight the hardest to protect.

    We don’t get to decide for others what beliefs they must hold and, although it’s sometimes difficult, we generally support others’ right to follow beliefs we don’t agree with. For instance, even murder or killing – I don’t personally support capital punishment, but I don’t fight the beliefs of those who do. That’s certainly as important as abortion in terms of good versus evil. I would like far stricter gun laws in general. But, basically, we agree to disagree – especially when the fundamental source for a given choice is embedded in a specific religious contention.

    Quite a few years ago I saw a young person wearing a tee shirt that I really liked [and agreed wholeheartedly with]. Across the front it said: “Don’t like abortion? Don’t have one!” For me, that says it all!

    I encourage everyone to stand up for our American right to individual freedom and especially for freedom of belief!

    The Rev. Dr. Karen Stoyanoff
    Trustee
    UUJMCA Board of Trustees

    To download this document, click anywhere on the letter.

    UUA Denounces Attacks on Abortion Rights and Demands Reproductive Justice

    Additional Resources below:
    Planned Parenthood
    Abortion Finder
    ACLU

  • 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

    Reflection on SCOTUS Decision on Roe v Wade – StaplefordDownload

    UUA Denounces Attacks on Abortion Rights and Demands Reproductive Justice

    Resources below:
    Planned Parenthood
    Abortion Finder
    ACLU

  • Take Action Together

    Bans Off Our Bodies

    Mobilize

    We will be gathering virtually on June 30th at 7pm for a town hall discussion on how we can support women both in California and in other states as we enter this new world that has placed the lives of our wives, sisters. daughters, and friends at risk. Please join us! Click to Register.

    Additional Resources below:
    Planned Parenthood

    5 WAYS TO FIND ABORTION RIGHTS PROTESTS WHEREVER YOU ARE

    Abortion Finder

    Photos: Reactions to the Roe v. Wade decision across the U.S.

    ACLU

    Stay Safe at a Protest Tips

    Roe v. Wade – courtesy of NBC4

    UUA Denounces Attacks on Abortion Rights and Demands Reproductive Justice

  • Roe v. Wade – A Response From AJ Blackwood, UUJMCA Executive Director

    24 June 2022
    UU Justice Ministry of California
    1731 Howe Avenue, #579 Sacramento, CA 95825 Phone (916) 441-0018

    I am heartbroken today to receive the unconscionable notice from the SCOTUS overturning Roe v Wade. I have a daughter of child bearing age and to know that today depending on simply where she lives in this country she may or may not be able to manage, decide, and rule over her own body is disgraceful. The decision today by SCOTUS It is a denial of her personhood and the further action being taken by states across the country is disgraceful.

    We at UUJMCA oppose any ruling or law that removes the right for women to control their own bodies and make decisions about their healthcare. As a matter of faith, we will do everything within our power to protect women in California and across our country. The protection and the guarantee of a woman’s right to control her body is reiterated in at least three of our most fundamental principles as Unitarian Universalists. Every woman has the right to “a free and responsible search for truth and meaning.” Within this principle we affirm a women’s right to determine what is true and appropriate for her life and body. A woman has the right to determine her own truth. A woman has the right to to self determine for herself how to express said truth and meaning in her own life. Therefore a woman should have and deserves by her own “inherent worth” the ability to, with dignity, determine what is right and true for her in regard to her body. No court, no legislative body, no man, no one outside of herself has the right to enforce their idea of truth upon her.

    To this end, we call upon all Unitarian Universalists in California to actively work to protect women’s rights. We call you all to work harder and struggle more for all women to live in communities filled with “with peace, liberty, and justice.” This call to action is active and not passive. It is a call to vote, organize, march, write and demand Justice at all levels of government.

    We will be gathering virtually on June 30th at 7pm for a town hall discussion on how we can support women both in California and in other states as we enter this new world that has placed the lives of our wives, sisters. daughters, and friends at risk. Please join us! Click to Register

    In Service,
    Pastor AJ Blackwood, MDiv Executive Director

    SCOTUS and Rov v. Wade – A letter from AJ Blackwood, Executive Director, UUJMCADownload

    UUA Denounces Attacks on Abortion Rights and Demands Reproductive Justice

    Resources below:
    Planned Parenthood
    Abortion Finder
    ACLU

  • SCOTUS has overturned Roe v. Wade (6/24/2022)

    “I am heartbroken today to receive the unconscionable notice from the SCOTUS overturning Roe v Wade. We at UUJMCA oppose any ruling or law that removes right for women to control their own bodies and make decisions about their healthcare. We will do everything within our power to protect women in California and across our country. 

    We call upon all Unitarian Universalists in California to actively work to protect women’s rights. This call to action is active and not passive. It is a call to vote, organize, march, write and demand Justice at all levels of government.” Pastor AJ Blackwood, Executive Director

    UUs Remain Committed to Supporting Reproduction Justice Justice

    UUA Denounces Attacks on Abortion Rights and Demands Reproductive Justice

    Planned Parenthood
    Abortion Finder
    ACLU

    https://www.getreligion.org/getreligion/left-and-right-where-do-us-religious-groups-stand-on-abortion-rights-issues
    from GetReligion.com