Promoting reproductive Justice
On Monday, June 24 to mark the horrific passage of the Dobbs decision, approximately 30 people gathered to write postcards to constituents here in North Carolina. The postcards focused on where candidates stood on the issue of abortion. Of the people that gathered a third of them were from the Community Church. We have much to be proud of. Please join us in the next four months as we work on congregation voter mobilization, and hope to engage the full congregation in getting out the vote.
Creating caring Bags
The C3HUU Side with Love team worked with Merry-K Moos to provide a concrete assurance to Planned Parenthood patients that they are loved and valued members of society. The care bags were funded by our generous congregation, and Merry K Moos purchased and planned the bags, with socks, stress balls, sanitary items, candy, lotion, tissues, tea.... Many thanks to our volunteers today, sewing rice filled bags for a heating pad and writing (printing once we remembered that they do not learn cursive any more) lovely cards.
Pictures depict our talented volunteers as they sewed, wrote letters, and assembled beautiful care bags for Planned Parenthood abortion patients. The Quuilters hearts and stars provided a lovely decoration. Special thanks to Salem MacKnee for sewing all 26 rice bags, so we could fill them and sew the tops today.
REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE RALLY
Eighty protesters gathered on March 26 in Raleigh in defense of medication abortions. On the same day the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments about restricting access to Mifepristone. The medicine is the number one, safest and most effective drug for abortions. It is used by over 60% of people getting abortions. Last year 1 million people had abortions. The Community Church had a terrific turnout for the event and sent four carpools. The church’s Side With Love team, working in collaboration with the Triangle Interfaith Reproductive Justice Coalition, was the main organizer. Faith leaders, including UU Rev. Alison Eskildsen, spoke at the rally. Please join us as we gear up our Voter Engagement efforts.
Reproductive Justice Rally and Media Conference
Jan. 22nd, 2024 marked the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade, which once guaranteed a woman’s right to abortion. Unfortunately, that right was tragically taken away in the Dobbs Decision in June of 2022 by the conservative majority of the US Supreme Court. This decision returned to the states the right to pass abortion control bills. That was a horrific step backward for women’s right to bodily autonomy and control of their lives.
In Raleigh this year on Jan. 22nd there was an historic and spirited Reproductive Justice Rally and Media Conference lead by Interfaith religious leaders, held in the Bicentennial Plaza, across from the NC General Assembly building. The Community Church of Chapel Hill UU took the lead in initiating the idea, organizing the Rally, and by providing speakers two of whom were UUs - Rev. Lisa Garcia-Sampson and Melva Fager Okun. They were joined by 8 other religious leaders - including rabbis and ministers from several denominations. Here is a link to the full media conference with speeches by dynamic religious leaders. Over a 100 people from Triangle congregations attended the Rally. The Community Church handled registration for a bus and helped underwrite the cost. The bus transported 56 Rally participants from the Carrboro, Chapel Hill and Pittsboro area, including ministers and rabbis. The bus riders enthusiastically sang their way to Raleigh. Five ministers from the Community Church attended the rally, including Rev. Thom Belotte, Rev. Alison Eskildsen, Rev. Jenn Kapranov, Rev. Ruth Gibson, and Rev. Lisa Garcia-Sampson. Proudly enough, the Community Church sent the largest number of attendees to the Rally from the congregations active with the Triangle Interfaith Reproductive Justice Coalition. The Coalition helped organize their congregations to attend. ERUUF and the UU Raleigh Fellowship belong to the Coalition and attended the Rally.
