Concerned Clergy for Choice, a statewide network of more than 1000 religious leaders from a wide range of denominations, is dedicated to protecting and expanding access to a full range of reproductive health services. By raising critically needed voices of religious authority, Concerned Clergy for Choice honors a longstanding American role of clergy advocacy for contraception, abortion, sex education, women’s health, equity in health care and stem cell research as a matter of social justice.

Clergy contribute supportive religious perspectives – historic faith teachings and nationally endorsed denominational statements – about the ethical dimensions of complex reproductive health care issues. They cite real life experiences, from providing pastoral care to women facing challenging reproductive decisions to working as sexuality educators, sharing heart-to-heart conversations with teens about today’s realities. In an environment that is often hostile to contraception and abortion, clergy provide community leadership that supports reproductive health care workers – and their patients – who may be vilified, targeted and attacked.  Concerned Clergy for Choice members draw from their daily lives to provide visible and articulate faith-based counter-voice to the prevalent restrictive and punitive religious message. Across New York State and in the capital, network members honor the women who make personal, reproductive health care decisions and raise positive and articulate voices of faith for social justice in public policy debates about women’s health and reproductive rights.

Concerned Clergy for Choice, a project of the Education Fund of Family Planning Advocates of New York State, is generously supported by the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation.

To contact Concerned Clergy for Choice, or its director, please email info@edfundfpa.org or call 518-436-8408.