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To Offer Compassion: A History of the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion
In 1967, when abortion was either illegal or highly restricted in every U.S. state, a group of ministers and rabbis formed to counsel women with unwanted pregnancies―including referral to licensed physicians willing to perform the procedure. By 1973, when the Roe v. Wade court decision made abortion legal nationwide, the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion (CCS) had spread from coast to coast, referred hundreds of thousands of women for safe abortions without a single fatality, become a medical consumer advocacy group, and opened its own clinic in New York City.
As religious leaders spoke out on issues of civil rights, peace, or poverty, CCS members were also called to action by the suffering of women who had approached them for help. Overwhelmingly male, white, affluent, and middle-aged, these mainline Protestant and Jewish clergy were nonetheless outspoken advocates for the rights of women, particularly poor women. To Offer Compassion is a detailed history of this unique and largely forgotten movement, drawing on extensive interviews with original participants and on primary documents from the CCS's operations.
As religious leaders spoke out on issues of civil rights, peace, or poverty, CCS members were also called to action by the suffering of women who had approached them for help. Overwhelmingly male, white, affluent, and middle-aged, these mainline Protestant and Jewish clergy were nonetheless outspoken advocates for the rights of women, particularly poor women. To Offer Compassion is a detailed history of this unique and largely forgotten movement, drawing on extensive interviews with original participants and on primary documents from the CCS's operations.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
256 pages, Hardcover
Published May 16, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 6, 2017
Pat- I just finished your fabulous book. What an honor it is to know the author! Your book is powerful, sad and filled with hope.
We owe the clergy so much. I had no idea. Thank you for educating and enlightening me.
I am proud to be one of your many admirers.
Congratulations! Ann P
We owe the clergy so much. I had no idea. Thank you for educating and enlightening me.
I am proud to be one of your many admirers.
Congratulations! Ann P
January 28, 2024
This fascinating and detailed 2017 look at the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion, which referred hundreds of thousands of American women for safe abortions before Roe v Wade, is more relevant than ever since the landmark Supreme Court decision on abortion rights was overturned over a year ago.
Key takeaways for me:
-Scripture not only does not forbid abortion, it and its interpretations make clear that a woman’s wellbeing is the most important consideration when considering whether or not to carry a child to term.
-It has not always been the case that American religious leaders are anti choice zealots. In fact many were outspoken activists working to protect and help women dealing with unwanted pregnancies.
-the above were mostly men, in part due to patriarchal tendencies for men (in the seventies) to be clergy and doctors. Those men are a great historical example of allyship, using their positions to help, and quickly learning to leave opportunities for women to have voice and agency.
-the current battle over women’s reproductive rights is largely based on right wing backlash and resentment over a court making the decision to legalize abortion nationally, without public or political debate. It is interesting that the left has for so long resisted debate on the matter, saying it was decided. This is from fear of losing hard won rights, but it’s a fascinating consideration in a democracy, the role of courts (which are often more progressive than popular opinion, or at least the 33% that can swing an election in a first-past-the-post electoral system) and how that can sometimes suppress public debate, the airing of grievances in the face of change.
Fantastic, very well researched book.
Key takeaways for me:
-Scripture not only does not forbid abortion, it and its interpretations make clear that a woman’s wellbeing is the most important consideration when considering whether or not to carry a child to term.
-It has not always been the case that American religious leaders are anti choice zealots. In fact many were outspoken activists working to protect and help women dealing with unwanted pregnancies.
-the above were mostly men, in part due to patriarchal tendencies for men (in the seventies) to be clergy and doctors. Those men are a great historical example of allyship, using their positions to help, and quickly learning to leave opportunities for women to have voice and agency.
-the current battle over women’s reproductive rights is largely based on right wing backlash and resentment over a court making the decision to legalize abortion nationally, without public or political debate. It is interesting that the left has for so long resisted debate on the matter, saying it was decided. This is from fear of losing hard won rights, but it’s a fascinating consideration in a democracy, the role of courts (which are often more progressive than popular opinion, or at least the 33% that can swing an election in a first-past-the-post electoral system) and how that can sometimes suppress public debate, the airing of grievances in the face of change.
Fantastic, very well researched book.
July 2, 2020
I’m giving this five stars not because it’s elegantly written but because it offers a fascinating look into a topic I thought I knew reasonably well—the history of abortion rights. The book recounts the work of the CCS, which provided abortion counseling and referral in the days before Roe v. Wade, and reminds us that being religious does not equate to opposing abortion, and that Protestants as a whole were not strongly anti-abortion until the rise of evangelicals and the Protestant right. The book recounts the careers of some remarkable people.
It’s not a quick read, in part because the authors are academics who are not necessarily writing for a broad audience. You have to slog past a whole lot of organizational history to get to the really good stories, but I wouldn’t be without reading the history of, say, Women’s Services, which became a model of outpatient treatment. And some of the people involved were admirable, even heroic.
It’s not a quick read, in part because the authors are academics who are not necessarily writing for a broad audience. You have to slog past a whole lot of organizational history to get to the really good stories, but I wouldn’t be without reading the history of, say, Women’s Services, which became a model of outpatient treatment. And some of the people involved were admirable, even heroic.
September 25, 2017
Fascinating forgotten history of nationwide network of clergy referrals for abortions pre Roe V. Wade. References to changes in abortion politics and rhetoric in intervening decades.
Reminder that abortion was legalized because respectable white men understood that it was visibly a middle class white (usually married) female problem.
Makes a huge point that early people who lobbied for abortion rights were already active in Vietnam was protests and civil rights issues.
Reminder that abortion was legalized because respectable white men understood that it was visibly a middle class white (usually married) female problem.
Makes a huge point that early people who lobbied for abortion rights were already active in Vietnam was protests and civil rights issues.
May 20, 2017
This book had interviews with the members of the Clergy Consultation Service, a group of pro-abortion ministers and rabbis who referred women for illegal and legal abortions before Roe Vs. Wade, and later set up abortion clinics of their own. This is a forgotten piece of history- religious leaders who supported and promoted abortion.
July 21, 2018
Everyone should read this history of Clergy Consultation on Abortion. It's too important to forget what pre Roe V Wade was like for us as a country.
October 11, 2024
Total academic study. Interest g time in history but not even intended to be a good read.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews