Here's what some SYRF members have to say about the program:
Voices for Choices, The George Washington University
I was riding the Washington, DC, metro one sticky August morning when the words "pro-faith, pro-family, pro-choice" caught my eye on the side of a purple messenger bag. For three stops, I toyed with the idea of approaching the keeper of this bag. When she got off at the same stop as me, I took it as an omen that I was meant to ask her what pro-choice organization she was affiliated with - and, of course, to ask if she would like to come and speak to the new Vox group, Voices for Choices, I had recently started at The George Washington University (GWU). I approached the woman carrying the bag and discovered that she sat on the board of directors of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC), a faith-based group that works to ensure reproductive choice through the moral power of religious communities. She was thrilled to hear of my work at GWU and jotted down the name and e-mail address of RCRC's campus outreach coordinator.
I kept the information in the back of my planner until school started once again in September and then typed a quick e-mail to the RCRC campus outreach coordinator, explaining my gutsy move on the metro a month prior. We set up a meeting time and discussed plans for what became an intriguing event for the "we've seen everything" GWU community: our first ever "Religion and Choice Roundtable Discussion."
The event was held at GWU's Hillel House and attracted members of both the GWU and metropolitan DC communities. Amy Hetrick of RCRC's youth program, Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom, started the discussion with an introduction to her organization. As we passed out fact sheets about various religious movements and their involvement in the coalition, Amy gave us a crash course on the nature of a coalition, and audience members had a chance to ask questions about their specific faiths and about the different ways that religion plays a role in decisions made regarding choice.
We then read a statement by Rea Howarth of the Quixote Center, a faith-based social justice organization that is encouraging reform in the Roman Catholic Church through their "Catholics Speak Out" project. The statement was poignant in that it used the teachings of the Catholic faith to connect choice and matters of reproductive freedom. Because Catholicism is usually seen as strongly anti-choice, the sentiments from the Quixote Center were an important element of our discussion.
Amy then went on to introduce other members of the panel. Rabbi Toby Manewith, a reform rabbi and senior director of Jewish education at GWU Hillel, had many interesting things to say about Judaism and choice. Her engaging discussion centered on the differing yet similar views on choice in the three denominations of Judaism. The final speaker in our panel was Rev. Dr. Roselyn Smith-Withers, representing the Baptist faith. She discussed the lack of awareness and openness in the Baptist community about sex and reproductive choice, pointing out the importance of an open and honest dialogue about such issues!
This event was a first for Voices for Choices ! We had never before combined the issues of religion and choice and we found that doing so created a very productive, though-provoking conversation. With help from the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, we presented an entirely new dimension of the choice movement to the GWU community. This just goes to show: you never know what will happen when you ride the metro in Washington, DC!
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Copyright 2005-2007 Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom.
This website is a project of Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom, a program of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC). The contents of this website and linked websites do not necessarily reflect the positions of the RCRC or the member faith groups of the RCRC.
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