Who We Are

We’re the proud legacy organization of a pre-Roe underground network of clergy who helped shepherd pregnant people across state lines to safely receive abortion care.

RCRC is unique in the reproductive health, rights, freedom, and justice movements because we draw on the moral power of diverse, multifaith communities. We support reproductive freedom because of, not in spite of, our religious beliefs. We reject the false narrative that anti-abortion religious conservatives have created in the U.S. and challenge their claims with our own theologies of compassion, love, and justice. We use our faith not as a weapon, but as a shield, to protect and guide.

We work with individuals of faith across the country and partner with both national and grassroots organizations, clergy, lay leaders, congregations, community groups, doctors, nurses, educators, seminaries, universities, and more.

We envision a world where everyone is free to live their faith and make decisions about their bodies, families, and futures with the support and care of their communities.

RCRC as it exists today evolved from an underground network of brave ministers, rabbis, and lay leaders called the Clergy Consultation Service (CCS), formed in 1967—six years before the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalized abortion in the United States.

In response to the deaths and injuries caused by unsafe abortions, this group—moved by their shared convictions and faith values—quietly referred pregnant people across state lines to abortion providers they had researched and found to be safe. Within one year, CCS drew 1,400 members nationwide.

During its run, they helped an estimated half a million people obtain safe abortion care.

Many of the clergy involved had also been active in the Civil Rights Movement. They actively connected their racial justice activism to their commitment to helping women and families gain access to safe abortions.

After the 1973 Roe decision, a new group grew out of CCS. This new group, known today as the Religious Community for Reproductive Choice (RCRC), was formed to safeguard the newly won constitutional right to privacy in abortion decisions. Over the decades, our mission has grown to include the full breadth of reproductive freedoms, but our core task remains the same: drawing upon our faith values and communities in order to champion reproductive rights, choice, justice, and freedom.