Religious Coalition For Reproductive Choice Holds ‘Blessing Service’ For New Abortion Clinic

On Friday evening, a group called the Ohio Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) is holding a "blessing service" at a newly-opened abortion facility called Your Choice Healthcare of Columbus.

The following is the event description on Facebook and Eventbrite:

Come celebrate the opening of Columbus' new medical abortion clinic: Your Choice Heathcare.

This gathering is open to all people of faith (and non-faith) who affirm abortion providers and patients. The hour long service will include various prayers, music, and abortion storytelling — as well as a message from Rev. Dr. Susan K. Smith.

Weather permitting, the blessing service will take place outside, followed by a light reception indoors. While this will be an uplifting event, we are expecting protesters to be present and will have security measures in place.

The Ohio Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice is an advocacy organization that "strongly opposes restrictions to abortion access and contraception," and offers various training programs to help "people of faith, conscience, and goodwill connect their pro-choice values with activism."

Additionally, the "our philosophy" section of the Ohio RCRC official website states: "We support women as moral agents and their right to make reproductive decisions following one's own conscience and religious beliefs."

The organization’s leadership includes a reverend and a rabbi.

In an October 23 blog post, titled: "Thank God for Abortion Providers," Rabbi Rob Nosanchuk writes about the various clinic blessings in which the RCRC will be participating this fall:

During this time, faith leaders and guests will gather together to ask for God’s blessing upon the abortion providers and staff and all those who pass through the clinic. In celebration and affirmation, we will also share interfaith blessings, prayers, and testimonies about receiving and providing abortion care...

Anti-abortion advocates do not have the monopoly on God or religion. That’s why I’m proud to serve on the board of Ohio RCRC and to stand with countless others to proclaim that accessing and providing abortions are good and holy decisions.

In another blog post, Ohio RCRC Executive Director Elaina Ramsey writes about the "sacred work of abortion providers."

The Ohio RCRC is just one chapter of the larger, decades-old Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice organization that promotes abortion using religious leaders, and lobbies against pro-life legislation.

The Daily Wire spoke with a press representative for the national RCRC, who said that the organization has conducted three previous "blessing services" in Ohio, Maryland, and Washington D.C.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, in 2014 (the most recent year for which reliable estimates are widely available), approximately 926,200 abortions were performed in the United States.

66% were performed on fetuses 8 weeks gestation or younger; 14.5% on fetuses 9-10 weeks gestation; 8.3% on fetuses 11-12 weeks gestation; 6.2% on fetuses 13-15 weeks gestation; 3.8% on fetuses 16-20 weeks gestation; and 1.3% on fetuses 21 weeks gestation or older.

The following video features Dr. Anthony Levatino, a former abortion doctor, detailing the various abortion procedures that would typically take place at clinics like the ones the RCRC has blessed: