A year after Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, Black women still struggle for access to reproductive health care
By Kimala Price
It’s been a year since the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, and the predictions by several experts that the U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade would lead individual states to ban abortions have come true. |
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Excerpts from a Mother Day’s Sermon entitled, A Mother Who Believes in a Pro-Life God
By Quardricos Driskell
Psalm 46:5: God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns.The ancient and biblical women or feminine figures in scripture are lessons on how to show strength during hardship and fearful moments. And unfortunately, in our contemporary context, the repeal of Roe v. Wade via the decision of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which ruled that the United States Constitution does not confer a right to abortion, is such a moment. This decision continues to send shockwaves around the country, and some communities are still suffering from the aftershock of generations of reproductive injustice already predicated on poor and Black communities. |
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The Pro-Life Agenda is the agenda of white supremacy
By Rev. Renita Green
 Purity theology was introduced in a very pronounced way when a youth pastor was hired from the Foursquare denomination at my small childhood church in the 80s. I recall many messages about fornication and promiscuity, staying pure until marriage, the purity of a virgin is like the purity of God. These messages came from a man who sexually assaulted me during a lock-in at the church.
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Who are We?
By Rev. Dr. Monica C. Jones
 Had I had an opportunity to have children, it is likely that I would not have terminated a pregnancy. Yet, if I had needed to, I would not have expected to have someone in the halls of the state capital, congress, or other legislative body, try to make the decision for me. I certainly would not have expected unyielding, power-seeking politicians to place my life in danger in an attempt to suspend my civil rights and reproductive freedom. Read More Here |
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What Would Jesus Do?
The Reverend Dr. Kent L. Poindexter
 We live in a country that boasts that it is a reflection of a “true democracy” and that, overall, it reflects a strong sense of “Christian” values. Over the last 15 years, it has become clear this is not the case. The loudest voices proclaiming their faith guides decisions about how we should live are those who have determined that they have the right to force everyone to believe in God exactly as they do. There is a major contradiction here—what happened to the idea that “all are endowed with certain unalienable rights . . . among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?”
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Oh, How Precious Is The Freedom to Make Decisions
By John Wm. Roberts, ED.D., Director of Music/Principal Musician
Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was the case that brought about the 2022 Supreme Court decision reversing Roe vs. Wade. This ruling began the process of sending women’s reproductive decisions back to individual states. Chaos has ensued, placing the lives of unborn children and their mothers in jeopardy. I am an older brother to five younger sisters ranging in age from 62-69 years and the father of a daughter who will be 53 in August. I am aware of both the ease and difficulty they have encountered as they entered and exited their prime reproductive years. In a recent study, statistics have shown that African American women are 35% more likely to die during or immediately after childbirth due to the lack of accessibility to quality women’s reproductive healthcare facilities.
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Anarcha, Lucy, and Betsey – The Black Woman’s Fight for Reproductive Justice
By Ms. Stephanie Burks, 8th Episcopal District
 Anarcha, Lucy, and Betsey—let us remember these names. These women were enslaved on plantations in Montgomery, Alabama, in the 1840s. They were subjected to medical experiments by J. Marion Sims, often recognized as a pioneer in the field of gynecology. Tragically, their suffering and that of others served as the basis for Sims' medical advancements, and he conducted each experiment without providing any form of anesthesia. These women had no control over their bodies. These injustices still exist today, a disturbing reminder that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
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Response to the Anniversary of the Dobbs Decision from the AME Church Health Commission
By Rev. Dr. Ann Marie Bentsi-Addison, Women’s Health Coordinator, Connectional Health Commission
As we approach the first anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (Dobbs), the International Health Commission of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (IHC AME Church) has remained vocal about its opposition to the ruling and its harmful consequences, particularly for black women.The Dobbs vs. Jackson Women's Health Organization case centers on a Mississippi law that banned abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The law was struck down by a district court in 2019, but the state of Mississippi appealed the decision, leading to the Supreme Court's decision in late 2021 that such bans are, in fact, constitutional. This decision has far-reaching consequences not only for reproductive rights but for the health and well-being of BIPOC individuals.
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What is Reproductive Justice? Why You Should Care
By Rev. Brandee Mimitzraiem
Can we be honest?
The history of the fight for abortion access in America is rooted and steeped in anti-Blackness. When we are honest, we can acknowledge that Planned Parenthood’s forced sterilizations of Black women – that continued well into the 1990s – did long-term harm and had a reverberating impact on Black communities. When we are honest, we can acknowledge that the Pro-Choice Movement of the mid-to late-twentieth century was centered around white women’s needs and stories. When we are honest, we can admit that this history makes us uncomfortable with white women and men coming into our communities and talking about the “right to choose.” When we are honest, we can admit that those same white women and men seem to care a whole lot about what happens in the uterus but seem to be absent when Black children are murdered by police and are typically silent about the school-to-prison pipeline and food deserts, and voting rights. When we are honest, we can admit that we are not only watching the increase in Black women dying during and after childbirth but also watching our sisters, nieces, and granddaughters receive shoddy care from an implicitly biased healthcare system that costs too much.
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One Year Since the Dobbs Decision: Drawing Strength from Each Other’s Faith for the Fight Ahead
This past March, I sat humbly listening to the Rev. William Lamar, IV chisel out the Rev. Brandee Jasmine Mimitzraiem’s idea of The Christian Recorder's potential role in amplifying my work at Planned Parenthood as its first associate director of faith engagement. The pastors’ creativity was sparked on the third day of a national faith table convening in Washington, District of Columbia, under the theme, “Imagining New Worlds: In Faithful Pursuit of an Inclusive Democracy.” The strength of their conviction of the possibilities invoked in my mind the anvil pictured atop the cross in the African Methodist Episcopal Church logo.
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