A Complicated Choice- the book
Rev. Katey Zeh is a strategist, author, and speaker who works with nonprofits and faith communities on organizing for social change. She is the Chief Executive Officer of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and a member of the Clergy Advocacy Board of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. A highly sought thought leader and speaker, Katey has presented on faith and activism at conferences and universities across the United States.
A Complicated Choice addresses the fact that abortion stigma is ubiquitous, even among those who identify as pro-choice. We have not been supportive of people who have abortions, especially those whose experiences are complicated and involve grief and loss. Bringing the reader along the journeys of those who have had abortions, Rev. Katey Zeh opens up space for the complexities of our reproductive lives, giving voice to the experiences of grief, loss, and healing surrounding abortion experiences. She weaves these personal stories with key insights from the fields of psychology, theology, and public policy to illuminate the systemic injustices that undergird the conditions that shape a person’s decision to end a pregnancy.
A Complicated Choice goes beyond the falsely simplistic terms “pro-life” and “pro-choice” that define the public abortion debate and centers the real people making the decision to end a pregnancy in the context of their full lives and circumstances. A call to people of faith and to all people to examine our judgments about people who have abortions, we are invited into the act of sacred listening to the real stories of those most impacted. By focusing on these experiences, we will be drawn away from the stalemate of debate and into a spiritual response rooted in compassion for those who end pregnancies.
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Show Notes:
1:28 Katey’s introduction
2:00 @rcrc Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
2:11 A Complicated Choice- The book
Everything we do is a collective project.
5:40 First Book- Women Rise Up
6:55 “It was a matter of finding my own inner strength”
7:15 “We haven’t done a great job of creating space for people to show up authentically”
7:35 “Grief is a really uncomfortable thing for us culturally, especially us white people”
Why are we so afraid…? Sadness, guilt, regret…
9:00 “Feelings can teach us a lot… sometimes we have to challenge the narrative”
9:59 “Have the feelings but question the narrative”
10:44 “People perceive the feelings of silt and shame as punishment… we want to have an explanation even if the explanation makes us feel worse”
11:14 “You are deeply loved and I know that God is here with you in your pain and will continue to journey along with you; and I’m here too”
You don’t have to do this yourself
I’m sad because I’m human. I have shame because I’m human.
13:19 “It’s complicated”
Reproductive wellbeing
14:15 Yale Divinity School
Confronting my own stigma
16:16 “Just offering my awkward presence was comforting for them, and impactful for me”
16:42 “I have to do something different; I’ve gotta bridge this divide, because the real ministry for me was happening in the abortion room”
16:55 “My call to ministry that happened in the abortion room… I keep showing up and trying to do better”
19:00 “Because the right had co-opted the narrative…”
20:22 Clergy Consultation Service- forming networks to get folks safe abortion care
20:46 “The rise of the religious right in its conflation with political power has erased that narrative of people of faith who have always journeyed alongside people who need abortion care”
21:52 White Chritian Supremecy- using abortion as a convineient organizing tool
22:19 “The Christian story is about liberation… it’s gotten weaponized… to justify all kinds of injustices”
23:09 “To me God is about freedom”
24:09 We Can Do Hard Things- QUEER FREEDOM: How can we be both held and free?
25:30 Gospel story
26:18 “She catalyzes her own healing… chooses to tell her story… she knows what she needs for her own healing… he is moved by her… we already know what we need”
29:39 “Everybody’s story is unique and universal at the same time”
34:40 “I’m often the first one people tell”
35:31 Being okay with it being awkward, Living Brave- book
38:33 “Someone else’s emotions are not mine to manage”
41:07 “No matter what you’ve heard there are many people of faith who are ready to hold space”
41:37 “At the end of the day God is love”
43:26 “Anything you find on the internet that claims a Christian orientation around this work, I would be highly suspicious of”
