SUMMIT, NJ — Beacon, the Unitarian Universalist congregation in Summit, hosted a Rise Up for Roe rally on Sunday, Jan. 22. Though the weather was cold, men and women gathered in front of the church to support the right to abortions and reproductive health care. The congregation declared its support for age-appropriate, gender-affirming care to members of the LGBTQ community at the event.
“Even though our great state of New Jersey has passed new standards, resistors are gaining power locally,” Tuli Patel, executive director of Beacon, said at the event. “From township to township, the harm will be most often to poor, low-income, trans, queer, differently abled, black and brown children.”
Patel also discussed the racial disparity in sex education between students of color and white students.
“Black students nationwide are far more likely than white students to receive abstinence-only instruction,” Patel said. “We need to affirm the right to bodily autonomy to make sure that black youth have access to the information and services needed to ensure their health and well-being.”
The funding disparity for school districts in terms of sex education was highlighted at the rally.
“Predominantly nonwhite school districts receive $23 billion less in funding than white school districts,” Patel said. “What is the first thing to get cut? Sex education.”
Possible explanations for the resistance to comprehensive sex education in high schools that exists across New Jersey were posited at the rally.
“Resistors are afraid that we will make their children homosexual or trans, or, God forbid, keep their children safe when they consent to engage in what can be a life-affirming act,” Patel said. “We need to give our children and youth access to accurate, age-appropriate information, so that they can live to be their best selves as they grow and change.”
Representatives from the Abortion Justice Committee of New Jersey, which partnered with Beacon to host this rally, were in attendance. Catherine Coleman from the Abortion Justice Committee of NJ also spoke to the crowd.
“We all come from different backgrounds, yet we all believe and are committed to achieving dignity, bodily autonomy and respect for all,” Coleman said at the event. “Many of us have been working together at different capacities, such as organizing for Black Lives Matter. In 2023, our committee has ambitious goals. We are planning a statewide Latinx survey to assess how and where people receive reproductive health care and information. We are working with Planned Parenthood of New Jersey and the Latino Action Network to attain this data for fair representation.”
In addition to gathering information, the Abortion Justice Committee said it is involved in legislative action in New Jersey as well.
“We also have been continuously working with our legislative advocacy subcommittee,” Coleman said. “I look forward to continuing to work alongside all of you to create the change that we want to see in the world.”
The Rev. Angelita Clifton, an associate minister at Summit’s Fountain Baptist Church, which partnered with Beacon to put the rally together, then spoke to the crowd.
“Standing here on the heels of our recent unity service here in Summit celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., there is one quote in particular that is resonating in my heart today,” Clifton said at the event. “He said our lives begin to end the day that we become silent about things that matter.”
Clifton went on to discuss King’s message and how it relates to abortion rights and reproductive health care.
“Dr. King understood that we cannot deny people access to human rights and then demonize their actions after withholding those rights,” Clifton said. “I believe that reproductive justice is a basic human right, to maintain our own personal autonomy over our bodies.”
Clifton discussed how times and debates have changed around reproductive care during her life.
“We have debated for as long as I can remember about individual decisions that women can make as a result of limited access to sex education, contraceptives and gender-specific medical services,” Clifton said. “We have argued, even longer than I know, about whether it is right or wrong for a woman to make their own decisions about their own bodies, especially when making the gut-wrenching choice to terminate an unplanned pregnancy.”