Sacred Work: Planned Parenthood and Its Clergy Alliances

by Tom Davis

In the struggle for reproductive freedom, there are religious extremists at one end and liberal secularists at the other. Lost in this battle and often invisible to the public eye are the religious leaders and institutions that have worked in favor of protecting reproductive rights.

In Sacred Work , Tom Davis brings to light the ways in which the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, a leading reproductive rights organization, and the clergy are not as incongruent as they often are construed to be. Although clergy supporters of choice are rarely, if ever, given attention in the media, Davis shows that they in fact play a major role in advancing women’s rights, rebutting right wing arguments, and helping to make (and keep) abortion legal nationwide.

Beginning with Margaret Sanger’s efforts to include mainline clergy in the fight to provide information about contraceptives to the general public, Davis details the religious and historical dimensions of this long alliance up through current debates. Drawing on stories of real women and men who are struggling to be faithful in the face of genuine dilemmas, this book cuts through the politics and semantics that typically surround the issue of reproductive rights.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Politics, Feminism

Paperback

First published December 28, 2004

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Tom Davis is an author, consultant, and the president of Children's HopeChest ( www.hopechest.org) a Christian-based child advocacy organization helping orphans in Eastern Europe and Africa. Tom holds a Business and Pastoral Ministry degree from Dallas Baptist University and a master's degree in Theology from The Criswell College.

Reviews

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book detailing the mostly unknown history of clergy involvement in Planned Parenthood since its inception. Highly recommended for all, even conservative Christians who have it all figured out...

[Cris · Rating 2 out of 5]

A christian minister, Davis writes a history of Planned Parenthood that is three fourths historical and one fourths emotional apologetics for feminism. Make no mistake Davis is pro-choice though he spends no time explaining how he arrives at that position from a Christian perspective, which would have been interesting to know. He does go on at length about social justice being the true sacred work of ministers and offering advice to others on how such work might be done on the side by enterprising ministers without speaking or upsetting a paying congregation. On the historical side I was interested in how he would portray the heroine of birth control and abortion, Margaret Sanger and her incursions into Eugenics. He does a fair job, it seems to me to take the sting out of her interest in creating 'master races' through birth control by placing her in the context of her times when such ideas elicited more support. Some comments of course, he can't take the sting out of but he notes them honestly if briefly and moves on. He divides his history into three eras from the 30's, to the 50's and modern times and how those times were shaped by the support from protestant and jewish clergy. How allegiances were formed and broken. (He writes fairly charitably and somewhat knowledgeably about the enemies of this movement, namely Baptists, EPs and Catholics.) In marking the rise of pro-choice Christians, the theology of how that happens gets unsurprisingly thin, though it is interesting that Reinhold Niebuhr headed the ecumenical federation that would first approve birth control. What he does note is that pro-abortion christians view life from a more Jewish perspective. What the book takes scant note of, is the dividing line between propagation of birth control and abortion that must have come at some point at this second stage. In the third stage, Davis tells a more cautious tale about the advance of a more patient and professional pro-life movement, to the waning pro-choice movement and of the later tendencies for PP to become simply a commercial chain of services that would hire clerical supporters. Interesting book for those of us who grew up after Roe vs Wade but definitely not a book I'd recommend for people without a strong logical foundation.

[Rick Edwards · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tom Davis, retired chaplain and religion professor at Skidmore College, has produced a stirring history of clergy who have collaborated -- as a matter of faithfulness to the biblical tradition -- with Planned Parenthood in its advocacy of women's right to exercise control over their own fertility and reproductive systems. This is a must-read for men and women concerned with the dignity and ethical autonomy of women.

[Brittany Mays · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to start by saying I don't support legalized abortion. I read this book just to gain some knowledge. It was well written and information.

[Dennis Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a superb, comprehensive, and accessible chronicle of the important role that clergy took on to make reproductive health care accessible in the United States. Rev. Davis is a wonderful and engaging storyteller and historian.