EDUCATIONAL SERIES

The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice Educational Series presents well-informed, balanced explanations on issues related to reproductive choice. Scholars, theologians, and clergy address these controversial issues from diverse religious perspectives. All of these publications and more can be found on the RCRC website.

Respecting the Moral Agency of Women by Dr. Virginia Ramey Mollenkott
According to Scripture, God knew that Adam and Eve would misuse their power to choose. Yet God chose to give them that power, creating them "sufficient to have stood, though free to fall." We human beings should follow our Creator's example by giving one another moral elbow room.

Is the Fetus a Person? The Bible's View by Dr. Roy Bowen Ward
In the media as well as in countless churches, Americans are being told that the Bible condemns abortion. This invocation of the Bible tends to simplify a very complex issue. Before embarking on a crusade under the banner of God's will according to the Bible, one ought to know just what the Bible does and does not say about God's will in the matter. One thing the Bible does not say is, "Thou shalt not abort."

Abortion: Perspectives from Jewish Traditions by Rabbi Raymond A. Zwerin and Rabbi    Richard J. Shapiro -- Whatever their opinions on abortion in any given situation, a vast majority of Jewish thinkers agree that decision-making with respect to abortion must be left in the hands of the woman involved, who may consult her husband, her physician, and her rabbi.

Abortion: A Christian Ethical Perspective by Dr. John M. Swomley -- Roman Catholic and Protestant doctrines differ in, among other things, the degree to which they are legalistic. The Catholic Church would have us obey the rules formulated by the Vatican, but Protestants believe that we are free by grace and justified by faith. The phrase "the sacredness of life" means one thing to Catholic bishops-that the life of the fetus is all-important-but to most people of other Christian denominations it means that there is a presumptive right to life that is not absolute but is conditioned by the claims of others. For us the right to life and the sacredness of life mean that there should be no absolute or unbreakable rules that take precedence over the lives of existing human persons.