A Village Story
Why is the Village important to this reform movement?
The father of abortion reform, Lawrence Ladder’s reasoning for choosing to bring his idea to Greenwich Village, and the sincere effort of the community is what makes the Clergy Consultation Service a Village story and not just an organization that happens to be located in the Village. Ladder’s idea was that it would be a significant gesture if some clergy helped to provide safe and legal abortions. Ladder chose to talk to the clergy of Greenwich Village because they had previously been involved in liberal rights movements and were known for being open minded. The congregation of the Judson Memorial Church as well as the community at large became very involved in the goals of the Clergy Consultation Service for Abortion, even to the point of exposing themselves to possible legal repercussions.
A Success!
Abortion was legalized three years earlier in New York State than in the rest of America?
Yes, due to the actions and voices of many Villagers as well as other New Yorkers Abortions upon request before the twenty-fourth week of pregnancy and after that if the woman’s life was in danger were made legal in New York in 1970, three years before the Supreme Court legalized abortion in the infamous Roe vs. Wade case. The New York state laws of 1970 are essentially the same as present day New York abortion laws.
The Judson Memorial Church and Reverend Howard Moody
Reverend Howard Moody, the founder of Clergy Consultation Service at Judson Church and the community felt very strongly about the inequalities and dangers of abortion being illegal. He wrote, “In fact it [therapeutic abortions] was only a term to describe the difference between rich and poor, white and black, the privileged and the underprivileged, married and single.”[1] He explained the severity of the situation further by stating, “Those women, mostly poor and members of minority groups, who had no access to the grapevine had their own prescriptions for self-induced abortions, which often resulted in sterilization and death.”[2] The injustices and the dangerous conditions that underprivileged women were subjected to when trying to illegally terminate a pregnancy were what initiated the fight for abortion reform in the Village. The horrifying injustices and unnecessary deaths and injuries ignited the clergymen in their efforts to remedy the situation and united many of the parishioners and larger community of Greenwich Village around the cause for safer and accessible abortions regardless of the laws.
Other Village Female Voices in the Abortion Reform:
At a legislative hearing in February of 1969 regarding the statute, which criminalized non-therapeutic abortions, Kathy Amatmek, a woman from Sullivan Street, incited a protest that made the Senator move the hearing to a new location.[3] After this protest, the Redstockings, which is a feminist group, organized a Speak-out at Washington Square Methodist Church. Two women who were instrumental in this movement were Irene Peslikis and Cindy Cisler, who are both well known women rights activists. Cisler even spoke about her own dangerous, illegal abortion at age nineteen in Ohio, which at the time she had not told anybody about. Later, what drew her to New York City for the women’s liberation movement and the chance to fight for reproductive rights. Peslikis recalls the phrases they used: “Speak pains to recall pains, bitch sister bitch, tell it like it is!” She also included that they learned the last slogan from the Civil Rights movement.[4]
The Village’s Lasting Impact on Abortion Reform:
The Village and its fight for abortion rights was not only essential and successful in making abortions safer and legal in New York, but also helped women find their voice in the battle and challenged many stigmas and prejudices concerning abortions. The Clergy Consultation Service on abortion changed the prominent view that women seeking abortions should not turn to religious institutions. This view was formed by the Roman Catholic Church but has been proven vastly wrong by many other religious leaders through the Clergy Consultation Service. Greenwich Village also gave women who had experienced abortions a place to meet, confide in one another, form strong views, and act upon them. Many of these women never stopped talking about what they went through in order to make sure that women continue to have control over their own bodies and are never subjected to the dangerous horrors of illegal abortion. This open dialogue about abortion reform, reproductive rights and women’s sexual choices and freedom was in many ways Greenwich Village’s greatest and most long-lasting contribution to these movements.
