Church

In 1989, the historic bifurcation between abortion providers and political activists had finally begun to dissolve, and a powerful new alliance was beginning to form. Providers were now at the forefront of the abortion rights struggle, and patients themselves, in the midst of the most personal and intimate of decisions and life events, were thrust into a vortex of politics and passion. This is one story from that time.

I spent my formative years believing my body, my life and my choices were not my own, but a kind of joint property between myself, God, my parents and my church friends and family. As such, my body and my behavior was up for discussion and judgment. Is it any wonder then, that I'm afraid, as a single woman, to be pregnant?

Church was the place I first heard the word feminism, and where I first practiced putting a condom on a banana.  So what's happened to liberal religion?

Coverage of the most recent in a series of church child-abuse scandals may indicate the gradual beginning of a shift, a willingness for media interrogation not just of religious figures, but of outdated religious ideas.