The Clergy Join the Abortion Fight

 

Chapter 25

 

The Clergy Join the Fight

 

In every case, once the formation of the chapter was announced in a newspaper and the phone numbers given, they were deluged with calls, usually between 30-75 within 24 hours. Los Angeles received 293 calls in their first 24 hours.

If anyone believes legislation will stop abortion, the Clergy Counseling Service’s (CCS) work might make them think again. In the late 1960s and early 1970s mostly Protestant clergy and rabbis all over the United States formed chapters to help women seeking safe abortions to find them. An estimated 500,000 women took advantage of their help. That is half a million women who broke the law and some 3,000 religious men participated in breaking the law they felt was unjust.

The driving force behind CCS was Rev. Howard Moody of The Judson Memorial Church in New York City. Located in Washington Square, the church looks like any other brown-brick church. In May 2017 the church celebrated the 50^th year anniversary of the founding of the Clergy Counseling Service (CCS). Celebrated is the correct word.

Moody knew he was facing a possible $1,000 fine and a year in jail for his work, but he said, “Some of us feel very strongly and I think we ought to break the law.”

As part of the research in establishing the service, the group talked to women who underwent illegal abortions to determine what they went through. They had a doctor show them how an abortion worked using a medical model.

Twenty-one people met to form CCS. One of them was Lawrence Lader (See Chapter 14). It was Lader, according to Bill Baird, who broke the story to The New York Times before the group planned to announce it. The newspaper published it under the heading: “Clergymen Offer Abortion Advice; 21 Ministers and Rabbis Form New Group—Will Propose Alternatives.” The names of participants were given. 

The Early Days

An answering machine had been set up at Judson Memorial Church. The goal was to change the message weekly, giving the names and phone numbers of two clergy that women in trouble could contact. People who called did not leave messages.

It was up to the women whether to telephone or not. A face-to-face meeting allowed the clergyman to decide how to best help the woman, which included keeping the baby if she wished. For those that were determined to have an abortion, they were given the name and coordinates of the doctor who would do it. There was to be no pressure on the woman to decide one way or the other.

The first day they received 35 calls: four were Catholic, 60% were Jewish.

Moody became the spokesman for the group. He was assisted by Arlene Carmen, who was from a Jewish family. Carmen joined the project in November 1967. She would provide much of the legwork in finding and maintaining a roster of licensed doctors, who would provide the procedures under the right conditions at reasonable prices. If any doctor fell outside the guidelines they were removed from the roster. Carmen was the only person who had direct contact with the doctors.

Although she was afraid to fly, to find qualified, sympathetic and qualified doctors she flew all over: Canada,  England,  Mexico,  Puerto Rico and the  United States   

Standards for doctors included:

        A license

        A medical facility, not a motel room

        Humanitarian attitude

        Used dilation and curettage (with or without anesthetic)

        Experience and limitations (Some doctors had limits on how pregnant the woman was.)

So serious was CCS about maintaining the quality of the service, by 1973 when Roe v.

Wade was passed over 300 doctors were on the banned list for not meeting CCS standards.

The woman needed to bring some proof of the length of her pregnancy. Some of their regular doctors refused to give it. For legal protection for CCS, the women needed to go to another state for the abortion. The women were asked to report their experiences to help CCS maintain the quality and the need for safety.

Carmen ran into some interesting problems. The Mafia, who also operated abortion services in New Jersey, offered her $50 for every woman sent to their New Jersey abortion service. She refused.

Moody and Carmen wrote a book: Abortion Counseling and Social Change, from Illegal Act to Medical Practice: The story of the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion. Published in 1973, a few copies are available on Amazon (October 2017) for prices starting at $500.

Expansion

Moody found at first that other clergy didn’t know the difficulties women met when faced with an unwanted pregnancy. He comparted it to how clergy in all-white communities didn’t see there was a race problem. He knew that once the service was available, women would come.

He was right.

CCS received calls from all over, showing the need for more chapters. Some of the earliest states to sign on were:

        New Jersey

        Pennsylvania

        California

By the time Roe v. Wade was passed, 38 states had one or more chapters.

In every case, once the formation of the chapter was announced in a newspaper and the phone numbers given, they were deluged with calls, usually between 30-75 within 24 hours. Los Angeles received 293 calls in their first 24 hours.

The New York office created a National CCS which served as an information center. General Motors heir Stewart Mott helped provide funding. Contributions came in from the women who had had the abortions and could afford it.

Rev. Bennett Owens, a Yale Divinity School graduate and an administrator for the Episcopal Church, was given a year’s leave to help CCS recruit new chapters. 

Costs and Travel

Between travel to another country and the abortionist, an abortion could run up to $7,000 ($46,869 in 2018 dollars) which meant it was more accessible to white upper-class women. Cost was not always a blockage. Going to another state was less expensive. Some doctors would provide their service for free to poor black women or at reduced costs.

Carmen monitored the charging closely and did not hesitate to either strike off a doctor charging too much or negotiate smaller fees.

Many of the women had never traveled and needed help with airline reservations, passports and visas. 

A Clinic

Eventually CCS opened their own clinic with Hale Harvey as the doctor to provide care with the goals of being:

        Low cost

        High quality

        Humane treatment

Some of the small touches included colorful decorations, comfortable stirrups, cookies and sodas, and a non-hospital atmosphere

Judson Memorial Church had earlier offered the first drug treatment service in Greenwich Village. Later they would offer help to AIDS patients. 

Legal Issues

CCS fought the legislators who wanted to make a requirement that a woman must have psychological or religious counseling first. Moody told the district attorney who came to him, “No way.” A woman, he said, could always come to clergy if they wanted, but to force her was unacceptable.

In Michigan the clergy went to the state police to help set ground rules. The police helped them avoid certain words. The state attorney general and governor were involved. There was never a problem.

Chapters reported that police often brought wives, daughters, girlfriends and sisters to CCS for help. In one case in Missouri when the CCS member was called by a sheriff’s office, she thought arrest was eminent. What the caller wanted was a referral.

Although CCS had an extremely low death rate, mainly because doctors were struck off the list for the least infraction, there was a referral from the Cleveland chapter to a clinic in England. Their investigation showed that the girl had not had the procedure done by the recommended doctor but another doctor. Moody notified all CCS chapters to safeguard that only the recommended doctor should perform the abortion.

As of 1968, 44 states had laws that clergy could not be forced to reveal what parishioners had told them. Mullen v. United States in 1958 had earlier established that right.

In Cleveland a lawyer told the counselors not to write anything down and instead have the woman write down the information given orally.

Another issue was if a clergy member counsels a person later accused of a crime, prosecuting the clergy member is a threat to church freedom.

Rabbi Max Ticktin was caught up in a police sting in Chicago. Earlier he had counseled conscientious objectors to the Vietnam war. On 23 December 1969, Ticktin was approached by a couple. That the woman wanted to wait a week bothered him, but not enough not to proceed.

During the counseling session, Ticktin said that he did not advocate abortion but was there to explore alternatives. He had lists of doctors in London and Puerto Rico. He did mention a Detroit doctor.

Early the next year, when Ticktin was in Israel, he was told that his office had been raided. The couple who he’d counselled were a policeman and policewoman.

Tiktin was arrested on his return to the U.S.

The charges were dropped. The judge ruled that Michigan law allowed abortion when necessary to preserve life, and that was vague.

There were other “close calls” in Pennsylvania, Kansas, Florida and New York. 

Denominations and Gender

Although Moody was a Baptist and many of the first clergy to join CCS were Baptists, that was partially because of Moody’s connections. There were also Jewish rabbis (61), usually reformed, but a few conservatives. The small number of rabbis annoyed Arlene Carmen, who was Jewish. One of the things that bothered her was that they only had one rabbi a month. Many of the women who called asked for a rabbi.

Other denominations included:

        Congregationalists

        Church of the Brethren

        Disciples of Christ

        Episcopal

        Friends

        Lutherans

        Methodist

        Reformed Church

        Swedenborgian

        Unitarians

In the beginning only men were CCS counselors. However, more women were being ordained in some of the churches and some of them took on the role of CCS counselors.