No on 67: Rev. Jann Halloran’s remarks

No on 67: Personhood Amendment

Rev. Jann Halloran’s remarks

Speech at July 29th Rally

 

Good afternoon. I’m the Rev. Jann Halloran

And I serve as president

Of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice of Colorado.

For the past 17 years I have offered pastoral counseling

To women with unexpected pregnancies and unexpected risks

In crisis about what decision they should make.

These issues of reproductive justice are played out in public

But individual women and their families are the ones

Who suffer in private,

trying to make the most loving

And ethical decisions they can for themselves and their

Families based upon their own beliefs and values.

At the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice,

Which offers this emergency clergy counseling service

to women of all faiths – or no faith –

we believe religious freedom

 

is one of the foundations of our democracy.

We believe individual rights

and matters of personal conscience must be held sacred.

This is why we, people of faith,

stand with you today

to resolutely and resoundingly say:

Vote NO on 67!

We do not believe one religious belief

or doctrine should be written into the state Constitution,

And Amendment 67 is an unabashed attempt to do exactly that.

It ignores the many beliefs, perspectives and individual rights

Of all women and their need to make very personal decisions.

At the center of the reproductive health debate

are important questions about individual conscience.

Decisions about family planning, birth control

and emergency contraceptives

should be resolved privately,

based upon our own beliefs and values.

Individuals should look to their own faith or beliefs

as they make difficult choices about their pregnancies and health,

and we, the people, must protect against mandates

that all Coloradans must follow the tenets of one religious viewpoint.

And to be clear, there are many religious perspectives on this issue,

And many progressive Jewish, Christian and Unitarian Universalist

people of faith strongly agree

With me that a woman can make a moral decision

for an abortion under many circumstances,

a decision that is both loving, fair and ethical

based upon her own personal medical history, beliefs and needs.

Amendment 67 would insert one religious viewpoint

into the Colorado Constitution,

in direct violation of our American values

which protect religious freedom.

The creation of laws grounded in religious belief also conflicts

with the separation of church and state,

and compromises religious liberty for all of us.

We must be allowed to live our lives

according to our own beliefs and values.

The misleading language of Amendment 67

would allow the government to interfere

with important moral decisions best left to a woman,

her family, her doctor and her faith.

Today, once again, we join our relatives,

friends, colleagues, and congregation members to work to defeat Amendment 67.

Please join us and vote NO on 67!  Thank you.