The Pastoral was Political: Religious Rights and Reproductive Freedom Before Roe

This article explores a forgotten history of religious activism for reproductive rights in the courts before Roe v. Wade. These legal challenges emerged out of acts of civil disobedience undertaken by clergy and laity, including contraceptive and abortion counseling, referral, and accessing illegal devices and procedures. Through lawsuits, Jewish and mainline Protestant faith leaders sought to legalize religiously motivated practices. These cases, which saw clergy make free exercise and establishment clause arguments, spotlight the evolving theological views among Jewish and mainline Protestant denominations about contraception and abortion; the changing contours of inter-religious alliances and intra-religious conflicts around sexuality; and how the courts’ responses to these suits reproduced certain religious and sexual values while rendering others illegible.