Religious Leaders Unite To Help Those Seeking To End Pregnancies

It’s been two years since Gov. Jim Justice signed a near-total ban on abortions into West Virginia law. But there are loopholes and travel funds that have allowed abortions to continue – sometimes with the guidance of pro-choice religious leaders. Now some of those leaders are joining forces, just as they did in the days before Roe vs. Wade. 

Back in the late 1960s, when Rev. Jim Lewis was an Episcopalian priest in Martinsburg, West Virginia, women regularly sought his counsel in handling troubled pregnancies – whether they wanted to keep the babies, put them up for adoption or abort. 

“They came to talk to me because they couldn’t talk to parents, talk to their boyfriend, talk to anyone around who could help,” Lewis said.  “Everyone had answers. This is what you should do. I didn’t do that.”

At the time, abortions were illegal in West Virginia and most of the nation. They were allowed in a handful of states and under very specific circumstances. A non-denominational group of religious leaders formed the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion, or CCSA, in New York where it was legal. They helped to facilitate abortions for patients from out of state.

“A minister named Howard Moody in Greenwich Village began it with a group of Jews, Protestants, and Catholics. They came together in New York because you could get an abortion in New York, and they formed this consultation network. And that’s where I began connecting to that,” Lewis said.

He reached out to Moody. 

“He came to West Virginia, and he met with a group of us, maybe 10, 12, 15, from around the state. And we joined together and formed, really, what was a consultation that worked right here in West Virginia,” Lewis said.

Through the West Virginia chapter of the CCSA, Lewis oversaw the Eastern Panhandle. His role, he said, was to help women do what they decided was right for them – including ending a pregnancy. 

“All the situations were different. There were married women. There were people who had had personal either incest or particularly, violence – [they were] beaten,” he said.

Lewis said he doesn’t see a conflict between his strong religious views and his support for women’s rights – including abortion. But the pro-life movement is largely driven by Christians who view the issue of abortion very differently – as a sin. Even murder.

“I understand, but we need to protect a woman’s right,” Lewis said. “The only thing I want from the legislature is, people should keep out. I want the legislature to protect women… because it’s their bodies, and they have to make these decisions.” 

In January 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court essentially agreed, ruling that the U.S. Constitution protected a woman’s right to abortion. Half a century later, Lewis was in Charleston and semi-retired when the court reversed itself in 2022, ending the constitutional right to abortion.

“When it all got thrown back on the states, do we do something by referendum? Do we do something by giving it to the legislature to create law? Oh, my God, and that’s what we did,” Lewis said. “To leave it in the hands of the legislature or the governor was deadly.” 

On Sept. 16, 2022, Justice signed a bill banning all abortions in the state, except in cases of medical emergency or for victims of rape and incest until eight weeks of pregnancy for adults and 14 weeks for children. Since then, pro-choice advocates have funded travel to other states for abortions, and have guided West Virginians seeking to end a pregnancy.

Margaret Chapman Pomponio is the executive director of West Virginia Free, which advocates for reproductive health access. She and Lewis decided to attend a New Orleans gathering of the Spiritual Alliance of Communities for Reproductive Dignity, or SACReD, earlier this year.

“It was a gathering of spiritual people to talk about reproductive rights and justice in this post-Roe world, and figure out how as spiritual people we are called in this moment to help people connect with what they need to live safe, fulfilling lives, and that means being in charge of their reproductive destinies,” Chapman Pomponio said.

There, with Protestant, Catholics, Jews and other advocates, they led a panel discussion on resurrecting a modern-day version of the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion. 

“It was a tremendous reception. There was a lot of joy in the room. There was a lot of brimming excitement about putting this together again in a new way,” Chapman Pomponio said.

There are similarities, she said, but reproductive health today is not the same as it was all those years ago.

“We are surrounded by a number of states where you can go and get an abortion. But the other thing that’s really different now is medication abortion,” she said. “The government cannot get into our mail. So pills are being sent to all 50 states across this country, and people are self managing at home.”

Outreach to spiritual leaders across the state has already begun. Later this month, a conference call with advocates out of state interested in forming a network… and early next year, they hope, training for clergy will get underway.

“The beauty of this is, we don’t have to be underground. So we can talk about this. And I guarantee you, people are going to be coming to us and saying, ‘I want to be part of that,’ just like they did then, but even more so now,” Chapman Pomponio said.

Lewis is once again part of leading the efforts in West Virginia. With a long history of battles behind him, from the Vietnam War to the banning of textbooks, women’s rights is one fight he says he plans to continue.

“I’m 88 years old, and I only got a couple more years, and I made the commitment to really focus those years,” he said. “I’ve been involved with a whole lot of issues, but I see underneath that women’s issues. So I’m saying the last years of my life are going to be spent working at that.”