I am a 24-year-old Our Whole Lives (OWL) facilitator. OWL is a full-spectrum human sexuality curriculum, created by the United Church of Christ (UCC) and the Unitarian Universalist Association.
As an adolescent, I went through OWL at my church. It was fun, informative and empowering.
Now, as a staff member at the same church, I lead seventh- through ninth-graders through OWL. We give students accurate information and help them process it in a safe and loving space with peers and trusted adults.
Ensuring youth have access to age-appropriate information as they mature is critically important. It helps them become sexually healthy people who feel good about their bodies and build positive, equitable, loving relationships.
[image_caption]Liam Magistad[/image_caption]
Students also thought about the challenges someone would face if they were to have a child while still a teen. Data show providing young people with accurate information, a safe environment and contraception when needed is the best way to decrease unintended pregnancy.
I believe the overturning of Roe v. Wade is a catastrophic mistake. Forced pregnancy is a violation of bodily rights — a right that Christianity values highly. The government forcing any person to carry a pregnancy to term against their will deprives them of bodily autonomy and is thus violence. It also fails to recognize an individual’s God-given moral agency.
Abortion as reproductive health care must be available and accessible, with optional mental health support/counseling. It must be unencumbered by waiting periods. It must be strictly private, and free of charge. The patient’s safety, dignity and decision-making authority must be ensured.
I am proud to be part of the UCC because our denomination speaks clearly at the national, state and local level about human rights and personal freedoms, including reproductive choice. My own faith journey has motivated me to continue advocating for a more just world. Right now is the moment to speak more boldly than ever before about the sacredness of reproductive choice.
Liam Magistad is director of Children, Youth and Family Ministries at St. Anthony Park United Church of Christ.
The humanist religious Left doesn’t recognize an unborn child as a gift from God. Sad and misguided.
The left refuses to follow the science that a fetus is a unique and separate organism and tries to use religion as a smoke screen to hide behind
Actually, no “science” would say that, since those aren’t scientific concepts, despite your insistence. But the word “unique” does sound in religion to me. And explain how a blastocyst or zygote or pre-viability fetus is a “separate organism” from its mammalian mother.
Ultimately, “life begins at conception” is not a scientific principle whatever you may say. It’s incoherent to a scientist. But it is quite coherent to a pastor or priest.
Dennis’s observation makes the matter quite clear. Opposition to abortion is based in religious thought. Why deny the obvious?
When does life begin? When does personhood begin?
Difficult questions. But when you can’t or won’t understand that the little ball of cells has a different set of.genes. Different from both parents, well there is not point in trying to teach you.
Biology has had a difficult time even defining what life is, let alone when it begins. It has nothing whatever to say about “personhood”.
We’re all well aware that a fertilized egg has genetic components from each parent, different from each of them. But it has no functioning biological systems whatever. Even if one grants it to be “unique”, there’s no particular basis in biology to accord legal protection to the organism simply because “the genes of the zygote are different from both parents.”
The best you can say about a fertilized egg up to a pre-viable fetus is that it is potential life from a biological standpoint, but that this characterization should accord it complete legal protection as a “person” or whatever (utterly independent of and superior to the rights of the mother), is overwhelmingly a religious concept.
Have a good day.
I had to inform you, but yes, a fetus a zygote and a blastocyst are a separate organism. Genetically, immunologically, physically it is separate from.the mother. To deny that reality, is well, to reality.
The fact that you and BK, cannot understand that Genetically this is a unique “something ”
BK, you prove my point so elegantly, thank you. Religion doesn’t dictate the genes of the zygote are different from both parents. Faith doesn’t demonstrate a fetal heart beat, an ultrasound does.
Again thank you for serving as an example to prove my point.
How could an unborn child as a result of rape or incest be considered as a gift from God? Why should someone have to raise a child that was not of her consent?
Dennis you miss the essence of Liam’s article.
Humanists, Agnostics, Atheists, do recognize a child as a gift… when it is wanted by the mother.
Humanists have a strong interest in the welfare of human beings. They value a human’s life and work to safeguard and support that wanted life with dignity.
A humanist does not support incest and rape-induced pregnancies as does some of the extremist pro-life religious sects.
Humanists work to support a wanted new born and it’s mother rather than ignore their needs as does the extremist single-issue pro life advocate.
Hmm…Seems like a god that would “gift” a severely damaged, unable to live on its own and incapable of thought child to someone – and a god who would choose to “gift” a 12 or 13 year old via violent rape and/or incestuous rape – would be a very pretty unloving and, arguably, a sick and monstrous “god”.
That’s not the God I believe in. Mine is a loving God who has blessed humans with free will. He’s not up there “gifting” people or deciding every second who should live and die, who should survive cancer today and who shouldn’t, etc. That kind of god is a sadist. Again, not my God. Maybe yours.
Thank you. Dragging a supreme God into all this would be an insult to such God.
And a ten year old in Minnesota wouldn’t have to tell her parents or have the procedure done by a physician which would have been even better for her.
Has anyone heard anything about the rapist? Say his name!
Dennis and Greg, there is room in my religion for you, but evidently no room in yours for me.
Thank you Liam. I will add that if men had to carry a child, we would not even be having this discussion. And that is the truth.
That is a transphobic statement. Please check your cisgender privilege.
Whatever would the American right do jf they didn’t have this latest game to play?
I think it’s supposed to be witty. I know, it’s hard to tell.
Quite true. And abortion would be a sacrament, as many have observed.
Further, I’m starting to think that there really are some principles of the Democratic party that you actually support!
That’s a catchy phrase that is not supported by almost all polling data, which show that women oppose abortion in higher percetages than do men.
Pew Charitable Trust poll: Legal abortion favored by 63% of women, 58% of men.
Gallup Poll: Women 86%, men 83% favor legal abortion in some or all circumstances
Kaiser Family Foundation: Women 68%, men 60% oppose overturning Roe v. Wade.
Too funny. Many thanks!
And one can only imagine the numbers for women of childbearing years.
Sadly, it looks like the nonsense of the Rightwing Noise Machine has misled another victim…
“women oppose abortion in higher percetages than do men”
Perfect!
Let’s let women decide with all men recusing themselves from the decision for lack of standing.
Sustain Roe: Sotomayer and Kagan: YES. Barret: NO. Roe is sustained. Instead we get the logical outcome of a 50 year campaign for men demanding to impregnate women consequence free: this is way more about power than life for conservative males…
“Abortion as reproductive health care must be available and accessible” “It must be strictly private, and free of charge. ”
Who would use contraception (which costs money) if abortion is free? Parents could find out if you are using contraception while they will never know if you have an abortion.
There may be something to the science that says that the human brain is not fully developed until age 25.
Hi Tom,
To be clear, I also believe contraception should be free, just like all other healthcare should be.
Still, the idea most people would rather get free abortions than spend a relatively small amount on contraception is far-fetched. Just about everyone I’ve talked to on this issue feels like abortion should be a last resort regardless of costs.
Regarding parents knowing, I’d hope young people would feel comfortable talking with their caretakers about everything. Unfortunately many do not feel safe doing so and in those cases, privacy must be honored.
I’d be happy to offer further clarification about my positions if you are interested. If my opinion still holds no weight until I’m 25 check in again come September and see if I have changed my mind.
Best,
Liam