Press Release:
NEW FILM RELEASED — SACRED CHOICES AND ABORTION: TEN NEW THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
November 14, 2005
Contact:
Ms. J Clements
Outreach Director
The Religious Consultation
[email protected] (for copies for review)
The Religious Consultation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin has just released to the religious community the film Sacred Choices And Abortion. This documentary explores the Christian, Jewish and Islamic faith traditions that support a woman’s right to make her own moral decisions regarding her child bearing. This film breaks down the stigma of abortion and promotes a more open and healthy communication between women and their clergy. The distribution focus is to clergy and religious educators, as well as to seminaries nationwide. The film was produced and directed by Barbara Attie and Janet Goldwater. It was produced with funding from the David and Lucille Packard Foundation.
This film exposes the “big lie� that the world’s religions do not support keeping abortion legal. The truth is that the following denominations do support keeping abortion safe and legal: United Church of Christ, United Methodist, Unitarian, Presbyterian, Episcopal, American Baptist, among others. There are strong religious traditions that view women as moral agents who are capable of, and should be held responsible for, making this most personal, and spiritual decision.
Ten insightful segments feature scholars from Christian, Jewish and Islamic traditions, as well as women and girls whose lives have been forever changed by abortion. It tells the painful history of women killed in the pre-Roe v.Wade period. One segment focuses on a 9-year-old girl, pregnant from rape, who along with her parents, struggle with the Catholic Church in order to save her life. Though this story takes place in Nicaragua and Costa Rica, the growing incidents of pregnant children in this country is a situation that faith communities, health providers and legislators are starting to grapple with; this puts another face on the complex abortion controversy.
A discussion guide promotes dialogue instead of debate. The guide encourages faith communities to come together to share personal experiences and beliefs without judgment. It encourages viewers to find common ground and to re-examine some of the contentious language that both sides of the issue use.
The president of the Board of Directors of The Religious Consultation is Daniel C. Maguire, a Professor of Moral Theology at Marquette University. The Religious Consultation is an international, multi-faith network of progressive feminist religious scholars.
Internet Link: www.religiousconsultation.org