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Mission
The Florida Interfaith Coalition for Reproductive Health and Justice supports and protects the right to safe and legal abortion services and the broader range of reproductive health care services through education and advocacy.
Vision
We envision a Florida with access to affordable reproductive health services as a moral and social good for all Florida residents and working as an ally for reproductive justice for all Floridians. Affirming the inherent worth and dignity of all persons, we strongly support the constitutional right of religious liberty and the right of each person to make reproductive health care decisions in accordance with their own conscience and faith beliefs, without shame or stigma.
Who We Are
The Florida Interfaith Coalition for Reproductive Health and Justice is a grassroots group of interfaith clergy, faith leaders and lay people, who reflect the spiritual and racial diversity of our communities.
The Coalition has a special focus on the essential health care services of the Florida Planned Parenthood affiliates.
WHO WE ARE
We are fearless advocates who support and protect the right to safe and legal abortion services and the broader range of reproductive health care services through education and advocacy. We envision a Florida with access to affordable reproductive health services as a moral and social good for all Florida residents and working as an ally for reproductive justice for all Floridians. We are a grassroots group of interfaith clergy, faith leaders and lay people, who reflect the diversity of our community.
Add your name to our sign-on letter and we will take YOUR voice up to Tallahassee in January, 2020 as we once again fight to keep abortion accessible for people of all ages.
Join with us--raise your faithful voice for reproductive health, rights and
justice--sign below!
By completing the form below, you are joining our Interfaith Coalition and committing to support Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida's mission. This letter will be posted on our website and PPSWCFL's website (without your street or email address) and delivered to various Florida legislators to show the faith community's support for reproductive health when we make our advocacy day visits.. Thank you!
"As clergy, faith leaders, and people of faith from a wide spectrum of faiths, we affirm the sanctity of life by endorsing laws and policies that provide access to comprehensive reproductive medicine, including access to safe and legal abortion care, for women and families, and medically-accurate, age-appropriate sex education for teens.
Clergy and people of faith were at the forefront of advocacy at the beginnings of the family planning movement in the United States, just as religious leaders are today. With anti-abortion groups now receiving much attention, we disassociate ourselves from these restrictive voices and bear witness to the diversity in religious teaching regarding the purpose of our intimacy. We recognize that no single religious leader speaks for all people of faith and we protest the enshrinement of any faith strictures as public policy. We affirm the value of new life when we protect the capacity of the woman to determine her proper time to become a mother.
Many of our respective faith teachings and nationally endorsed denominational statements call for access to sex education, contraception and abortion care. What is more, the clergy experience providing pastoral counsel to women and families demonstrates the spirituality in the process of consulting with a medical provider and arriving at a personal conclusion about reproduction. Above all, uninvited religious leaders and government officials have no business imposing their personal faith strictures or religious definitions of medical services into the laws of the land or the private lives of women and families. Rather, people need medically accurate information, the opportunity for personal deliberation in accordance with their own moral codes, faith beliefs and consciences and access to the level of care they believe is right for them. Conscience is the moral high ground.
We value real religious liberty which upholds the right of each person to make their own faith-based or conscience-based healthcare decisions. We join our clergy predecessors and people of faith in the past in advocacy for laws and policies that safeguard and strengthen access to reproductive medicine. And, we stand by the work of women’s health centers, including Planned Parenthood, for providing quality and affordable medical care and comprehensive sex education so vital to the well-being of our communities."
Thank you for supporting Planned Parenthood and this critical work.
"I see no reason why a woman should feel herself deserving of a separation from God because of a decision she has to make. The Jesus I love has a nonconformist understanding of his faith. He realizes that the petty rules and laws laid down by the fathers and authorities are meaningless, and that to believe in a loving God is to refuse to stand in judgment of any fellow mortal.”
― Willie Parker, Life's Work: A Moral Argument for Choice
Carrying out our mission
Florida Interfaith Coalition for Reproductive Health affirms the inherent worth and dignity of each person and uphold the religious liberties of women and faith groups which understand that the decision to terminate a pregnancy can be a sound moral decision, one that is consistent with one's faith and values.
With our organization’s mission always in mind, we strive to support and protect reproductive health, rights and justice of all Florida residents, with a special focus on the essential health care services of the Florida Planned Parenthood affiliates.
At Florida Interfaith Coalition for Reproductive Health, we believe in religious liberty and the right of each person to make to make reproductive health care decisions in accordance with their own conscience and faith beliefs, without shame or stigma.
We represent diverse religious traditions, all of which value the sanctity of life. Our faith traditions teach us to respect and uphold the moral agency of women to make their own reproductive health care decisions, including the decision of whether to carry a pregnancy to term.
