Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice

RCRC began offering “All Options Counseling” training workshops for clergy in 1984. In the 1990s, the program was updated to include seminary students and the focus expanded to “Pastoral Care for Reproductive Decisions and Loss.” In 2017, the training was updated again to expand participation beyond religious leaders and incorporate strategies for addressing systemic changes.

From 2017-2018, RCRC piloted an expanded curriculum, called “Compassionate Care,” to engage and train a wide range of helping professionals including social workers, physicians, clinic workers, doulas, clinic escorts, religious/ spiritual leaders, and others. Using what we learned in the pilot year, we made significant revisions to the program materials, which are enabling RCRC to gain a broader reach for in-person workshops and online training options. In addition to providing knowledge and skills needed for 1-1 conversations, the workshop now includes tools for addressing systemic reproductive oppression. RCRC is now able to not only offer more in-depth workshops but also adapt our trainings to suit the specific needs of a broader array of participants.

At its founding, RCRC focused on a theory of change rooted in working with the heads of religious denominations to help them lift up reproductive issues among their membership. The religious landscape has changed significantly since RCRC’s founding; we have subsequently reassessed the viability and effectiveness of that change strategy. Instead of the top-down strategy that was the norm 40-50 years ago, RCRC is now employing a theory of change that is truly rooted in grassroots organizing.

RCRC’s revised theory of change, illustrated by the activities described above, is intentionally focused on collaboration with state and local communities. Through that lens, we are identifying multiple targeted strategies that are applicable in different state contexts. RCRC currently has 12 state affiliates and is actively working to strengthen those relationships. At the same time, we are in discussion with potential partners in states that lack an RCRC affiliate, to identify how we can assist in building power on the ground. For example, stakeholders in Nebraska are interested in collaborating with RCRC and may move ahead with establishing an affiliate; South Carolina is another potential affiliate state. RCRC has created a checklist of steps for those interested in forming an affiliate, to help them understand their capacity and the overall process. RCRC is now offering technical assistance to help individuals assess the potential for forming an affiliate and move forward.

In assessing the readiness of a particular city, state, or region, we have developed a list of key factors, based on decades of organizing experience, to gauge local capacity and interest that will signals the long-term sustainability of an advocacy initiative there. The following considerations will help guide our state-focused expansion:
1) The presence of a reproductive dignity and freedom organization in the state, with which RCRC can partner;
2) A critical mass of faith-based reproductive dignity and freedom advocates, who can support and collaborate with an affiliate;
3) A small number of abortion clinics in the state, indicating the reproductive rights are in jeopardy; and
4) Demonstrated support for reproductive health policies on the part of the state legislature, indicating that there is the potential for successful advocacy.

RCRC is continuing its efforts to advance our intentional strategy to engage stakeholders in a meaningful way on the state and regional levels. Based on in-depth evaluative efforts with community partners, we determined that RCRC needs to undertake deeper, more collaborative, on-the-ground efforts in key reproductive battleground states, and to replicate strategic efforts across states. Both efforts are necessary in order for RCRC to make significant impact. But, achieving these goals required disrupting historical patterns and practices in how national RCRC has worked with affiliates.

Based on this focused and intentional shift, RCRC is now more specifically interacting with a wide array of supporters on the ground, including our affiliates, other state partner organizations, and grassroots groups. We are particularly focusing on the “Central and Southeast Regions”—which includes GA, IN, KY, LA, MO, MS, OH, TN, TX, and SC—in order to build local partnership in areas most affected by restrictive legislation.

In addition to examining the patterns of legislative bills being introduced in states where only a few abortion clinics remain, we have also looked at the impact of circuit court rulings in states within the same circuits. With that information, we have identified and developed collaborations with key organizations in those battleground states and have supported them in expanding their local networks within the reproductive dignity movement and other justice movements. We recognize that many of the attacks against reproductive dignity are also being made against public education, healthcare broadly, environment, gun reform, separation of religion and state, etc.

With our affiliates, RCRC is developing and finalizing collaborative agreements, work plans, and budgets. We are inviting affiliates to envision specific collaborative efforts to conduct with national RCRC, which will enable and/or augment state-specific goals and objectives (see below).

In states without an RCRC affiliate, we are building partnerships in which identified organizations commit to a relationship with RCRC and to collaborating on specific efforts and programs. This is an effort to engage faith communities as a whole, rather than focusing either broadly on denominations or specifically on individuals, as RCRC has done in the past.