A sign in front of Second Unitarian Church of Chicago reads “We support abortion on demand without apology.”
A few days ago, the sign’s glass casing and a stained-glass window on the side of the church were shattered by vandals, apparently motivated by opposition to the message in support of reproductive rights.
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On Sunday, the church responded to that act of destruction with an interfaith rally promoting abortion rights and access.
A crowd of more than 200 participants gathered outside the East Lakeview neighborhood church under a light drizzle, some holding handmade signs reading “Roe has fallen, we have not” and “Parents’ heartbeats matter.” One young girl held up a sign that said “No to forced birth.”
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About a half-dozen speakers, including several local clergy members, decried the vandalism at the church and the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 24 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, ending federal abortion protections.
“The vandalism at Second Unitarian reflects a choice: A choice to not be in dialogue with us,” said the Rev. Elizabeth Harding, minister of religious education at the church. “It is a choice made out of fear. Our choice to support women and their medical choices is one that is clearly lined up with our beliefs and principles of Unitarian Universalism. We believe in the inherent dignity of all people and bodily autonomy is part of that dignity and worth.”
Church leaders said a neighbor caught on video a recording of two women throwing rocks and using sections of fencing to smash the church window and sign, after making negative comments about the sign’s abortion rights message.
A Chicago Police Department spokesperson said two female offenders threw unknown objects at the church on Aug. 24, “breaking the stained-glass picture and sign.” Authorities said no one is in custody, though detectives are still investigating the incident.
Several speakers at the rally acknowledged that religion tends to be associated with opposition to abortion because leaders of the Catholic Church and other more conservative Christian faiths often denounce ending a pregnancy as amoral.
Yet many in the crowd outside Second Unitarian Church said their religion and faith helped form their support for abortion rights.
Speaker Rabbi Steven Philp said there’s a “prevailing rhetoric” that puts religious freedom at odds with progressive values — and he wants to “rewrite that narrative.”
“Which is why I’m proud to be standing outside an institution that is very publicly rewriting the narrative to say that actually, our religious freedom is not only not opposed to these progressive values, but they actually demand (them),” said Philp, of Mishkan Chicago, a North Side synagogue.
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He added that intertwining religion and reproductive rights is not a new concept.
“Lest people think we are just inserting our modern interpretation into very ancient traditions, I also want to say, actually, we draw these values in fact from our traditions themselves,” he said. “Judaism has long held that access to abortion is a vital and necessary human right. And not just a hundred years ago, not just 500 years ago; we were writing about this about 2,000 years ago.”
The Rev. Alka Lyall, pastor at Broadway United Methodist Church in East Lakeview spoke of her own two abortions, which were both deeply difficult but “equally deeply believed to be the right decision.”
“I know the general feeling is that religious institutions are anti-abortion,” she said. “Well, we stand here together to say that these religious institutions and their leaders support every human’s right to choose. … We support abortion rights for all people.”
In the crowd, Vera Dowell of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice held a banner that read, “Believe it: People of all faiths believe a woman should decide.”
The 82-year-old Uptown neighborhood resident has seen the trajectory of abortion rights span from when the procedure was illegal before Roe and the historic 1973 Supreme Court ruling that established abortion rights nationwide.
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“In college I had friends who needed abortions and had to hide to get them, who couldn’t possibly talk about it because it was so opposed,” she said. “With Roe v. Wade, it was OK to hold up your head and say, ‘I had an abortion.’”
Dowell said it was discouraging to watch the court dismantle those rights and protections earlier this summer.
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“Now, we have to keep fighting,” she said.
By Sunday’s rally, the sign’s glass had already been repaired. The stained-glass window will take longer to fix, said the Rev. Jason Lydon of Second Unitarian Church.
If any suspects are caught, Lydon said he’d prefer a restorative justice process rather than typical prosecution through the court system.
“Where the women would have to pay for the damages they did,” he said. “But more importantly, that they would engage in conversation.”
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He added that the large crowd at the reproductive rights rally and support of other faith leaders was encouraging.
“We’re doing this to say we will not be silenced by people who try to intimidate us,” he said. “Sometimes it takes an unfortunate event to get clergy across traditions to connect more with each other.”
