The first time I hadsex, I confessed.
Not to a priest, but to my mother, who was kind of amused by my guilt.
To my moms credit, she didnt laugh.
Getty / cveiv
I knew, unequivocally, that I wasnt ready to have a child.
And though that sexual partner didnt want me to get an abortion, he couldnt change my mind.
(It didnt work.)
And my insistence that having consensual sex made me impure?
Likely influenced in part by my religious schooling.
The United States of America is a pretty religious country.
But thats not true.
There are plenty of people of faith who hold pro-choice viewsyou just might not hear from them that often.
Heres what they had to say.
She said, As scientists, we can launch the experiments.
We can give you explanations for how things happen on a cellular level.
It is a choice that calls for deep discernment.
I do know that we need to be a lot more responsible once life gets here.
We should ultimately be caring for folks wherever they are.
Islam is all about compassion.
My mom was really focused on allowing me to choose my faith.
There are so manydifferent interpretations.
We have the same right to read the Quran and to make our own interpretation.
According to some interpretations, a fully formed human being is one that is outside of the womb.
But, according to this verse, if the woman dies, its considered murder.
The Quran doesn’t really give guidance on abortion.
Shaheen PashaMuslimEducator and journalist
I came from a struggling immigrant family.
My father was dealing with mental illness and my mom was raising two kids far from home.
Clearly, she didnt do it.
She said it was something she didn’t feel conflicted about religiouslyit was just her own personal choice.
Others say God is compassionate and the decision falls with the parent.
Ultimately, the Quran doesn’t really give guidance on abortion other than to say life is precious.
That’s why I’m pro-choice, and I think that’s why a lot of Muslims are pro-choice.
Taking choices away from people doesnt respect humans as a whole.
For anyone making the choice whether or not to have a child, it isn’t taken lightly.
Its something they carry with them their entire lives.
But it’s still a choice, and it’s different for each person.
Its not black and white.
People are thinking seriously about their circumstances.
Part of those teachings come from parables that Jesus tells.
Some of the people who end their pregnancies are people of faith and some of them aren’t.
But all of those people are thinking seriously about their circumstances.
She traveled around the U.S. and spoke in and started churches in the Christian faith.
The God that I believe inandthe God also present in Christianity is centered around love.
Anyone who has an abortion should be met with grace.
I’ve also had an abortion myself.
I’m nobody’s judge.
This conversation is taking place inside a worldview that is virulently patriarchal and misogynistic.
I said, Absolutely.
Whatever it is you decide and whatever it is you do.
Then she asked me to go with her.
And I think that always has to be part of this discourse.
If you have made this decision, you have weighed it on so many different levels.
There is this assumption that pro-choice Christians have no allegiance to scripture.
That’s fundamentally not true.
It shows the power of community during dark times and in darkness.
There’s a scripture that essentially says, Everywhere that I go, God is with me.
Quotes have been edited for clarity.
*Name has been changed upon request.
