Christian Outfits Divided Over The US Court Ruling On Abortion

The United States Supreme Court on Friday overturned its 1973 Roe Vs Wade judgment in which it had declared abortion to be a right protected under the federal constitution. 
 
The Friday's ruling states that it's not the task of the judiciary, but of the individual states to decide on abortions. As many as 20 of 50 US states are now set to ban or limit abortions. 
 
It has been reported that 15 states are expected to ban abortion, whereas three are likely to ban abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy. Two others have enacted 15-week abortion limits this year.
 
Religion is central to the abortion debate as many people oppose abortion because of their religious views. However, several religion groups and faith leaders also advocate abortion and work towards making safe abortion accessible. 
 
The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) is one such interfaith pro-choice organisation. "Being denied the inherent right to exercise one's divinely-given bodily autonomy and to make decisions about one's family and future is a violation of human rights and religious freedom," said RCRC in a tweet after Friday's ruling. 
 
The RCRC has been providing abortions and reproductive healthcare even before the Roe Vs Wade judgment. It began as an underground network of ministers and rabbis called the Clergy Consultation Service (CCS) in 1967. The CCS would refer women to abortion providers that their members had researched and had found to be safe. 
 
Abortion is one of the most divisive issues in the United States that often sees religious and political polarisation. Only 38 per cent Republicans or Republican-leaning people say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. The percentage for the same among Democrats is 80, according to Pew Research Centre. 
 
Nearly 74 per cent of White evangelical Protestants are opposed to abortion, whereas 60 per cent of non-evangelical White Protestants support abortions, according to a report by Pew Research Centre. The Pew report says that religiously-unaffiliated people overwhelmingly support abortion at 84 per cent. Overall, 61 per cent American adults support abortion.
 
Catholics for Choice's president Jamie L Manson said in a statement, "This ruling gives right-wing leaders unfettered license to codify fringe religious beliefs into civil law. It is a full-frontal assault on, and is utterly incompatible with, the bedrock American principles of religious freedom and the separation of church and state."
 
It was not always this polarising. Justice Harry A Blackmun, who wrote the US Supreme Court's majority opinion in the 1973 Roe Vs Wade judgement, was a Republican. Four of the other six justices who voted to protect abortion under the constitution were also Republican-nominated. On Friday, however, the conservative majority reversed the judgement. 
 
It has also been highlighted that there is a gap between what religious texts and leaders say on abortion and what people actually practice. Manson also said in a tweet, "One in four abortion patients in the US is Catholic. Next time you hear a priest call abortion 'murder' or a tragedy', remember that lots of folks who have had abortions are sitting near you in church. Anti-abortion rhetoric hurts people in the pews. It's an unspoken pastoral crisis."