Response to Dobbs decision: Reproductive justice is a Catholic value

CTA calls on American Catholics to unite to protect pregnant people and others who will face increased threats of violence and criminalization from this decision.

Image description: In front of the Supreme Court building stands a crowd of people facing away from the camera. One holds a sign over their head that reads in white letters on a dark blue background, "Abortion is Health Care."

Call To Action releases the following statement in response to the news Friday, June 24, 2022, that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade in their recent decision, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. As we stated in May in response to the leaked draft of Dobbs, this most recent, devastating news represents another turn toward state-sponsored violence, racism, and misogyny in the United States. We invite Catholics to lean into the conversation. We cannot remain silent.

Full Statement:

Call To Action affirms that all Catholics should have access to safe, legal, and affordable abortion care without discrimination, harassment, criminalization, or fear for their physical wellbeing. Reproductive justice is social justice—and there is no justice when laws punish pregnant people for their medical decisions or their pregnancy outcomes.

With this Supreme Court decision, we are not entering a pre-Roe world or witnessing the end of abortion. We are facing a new, fraught reality in which women, trans, and non-binary folks will be surveilled, harassed, and criminalized as health care is being pushed underground or, worse yet, placed in the hands of authoritarians. As Catholics, we know this consolidation of power only benefits a select few and fuels abusive political systems.

This decision to overturn Roe v. Wade goes against the beliefs of the majority of American Catholics. More than half of US Catholics believe that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. We also know that Catholics have abortions: Nearly 25 percent of abortion patients identify as Catholic. That means 1 in 4 abortion patients is Catholic. The Court’s conservative justices, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, and zealous anti-abortion groups are in the minority of Catholics.

We acknowledge that laws supporting abortion access do not come at the expense of pregnant women and their families. However, laws restricting abortion do. Communities of color, poor and working-class communities, survivors of sexual assault and abuse, houseless communities, substance users, and people with disabilities are most at risk for criminalization for their pregnancy outcomes. Movements to stigmatize abortion and abortion providers have also led to medically inaccurate and dangerous legislation that also impacts treatment for miscarriages and stillbirths, ectopic pregnancies, and high-risk pregnancies. Catholic hospitals, which make up the largest non-profit healthcare system in the US, do not allow pregnancy terminations unless the patient is near-death, thus forcing patients to face more medical risks. And in recent years, the anti-abortion movement has created surveillance states in which all pregnant people are increasingly monitored and accused of misconduct by law enforcement agencies, medical professionals, and even their own friends and families.

We cannot let our parishes turn into surveillance states, where women and trans and non-binary folks are demonized and any honest, accurate discussion of reproductive health censored. For too long, the US Catholic bishops have co-opted the language of our social justice teaching in their crusade against legal and accessible abortion. But the Catholic hierarchy’s anti-abortion platform has never been about morality, public health, or the family. As Christian nationalism takes hold across the United States, it is time for American Catholics to work together and protect those who are being further pushed to the margins. That begins with affirming that reproductive justice is a Catholic value. Reproductive justice is a platform that Catholics need to actively take up—in our social justice work, our parish communities, and our continual discernment as people called to live out the Gospel.

We again call on Catholics to take action. In this post-Roe reality, it is crucial to learn from our allied organizations and educate ourselves on abortion mutual aid. Here are some steps Catholics can take:

• Support faith-based reproductive justice organizations. Catholics for Choice, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Justice, SisterSong, National Council of Jewish Women, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, and Faith Aloud are all organizations led by people of faith—including clergy!

• Donate to an abortion fund in your state. The majority of US states block their residents from receiving Medicaid funding for pregnancy terminations. Abortion bans mean patients have to travel across state lines for a legal pregnancy termination. Abortion funds exist to help those who need monetary support for travel, lodging, or the cost of the procedure. The National Network of Abortion Funds has a database of every abortion fund in the United States.

• Donate to an independent abortion clinic. Most pregnancy terminations occur in independent health clinics, not hospitals or Planned Parenthood centers. These clinics need funds to operate in the wake of these costly legal battles. Visit Abortion Care Network for ways to donate and get involved.

• Volunteer to be a clinic escort in your community. Harassment outside abortion clinics has been ongoing for decades. Consider becoming trained as a clinic escort at a local clinic to protect patients entering and exiting the facility.

• Educate yourself about self-managed abortion. It’s true that banning abortion results in more serious injury and deaths. However, self-managed abortion can be very safe with the right materials! Visit Abortion On Our Own Terms, a new website hosted by a coalition of reproductive health organizations, for more education on how to safely conduct a self-managed abortion.

• Be ready to take action. We must be prepared to help those in our own communities: drive people across state lines so they can receive abortion care, help transport abortion pills, and provide resources to those who need self-managed abortions so they can do so safely.