| | Unitarian Universalist Responses to the
Supreme Court's Abortion Decision | |  As you know, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) decision last month in the Dobbs v. Jackson’s Women Health Organization case, overturns Roe v. Wade, and upends nearly 50 years of access to abortion. Below is a reading, followed by responses from some UU organizations:
The Right to Choose
Rev. Elizabeth Mount
To begin, to start, to create, to undertake,
To grow, to promise, to increase, to generate.
All these are our birthright.
As we are created, so may we create. The ability and the choice to create is sacred.
To withdraw that chance from any person without their permission
Would be a violent act, the cutting off of life itself.
[Full Reading]
Unitarian Universalist Association: President Rev. Dr. Susan Frederick-Gray
“Comprehensive reproductive care, including access to abortion, is essential to the health and well-being of individuals and families. The decision to limit this basic human right means that this fight will shift to state legislatures across the country. Guided by our moral values, we are prepared to be a part of that ongoing struggle and continue to show up for Reproductive Justice in all aspects of public life. Our faith calls us to advocate on behalf of all those who need ready access to safe, legal abortion care whenever and wherever they need it. We will not rest until that reality is true across the country. I urge lawmakers, elected officials, and leaders in public life across the country to take action for gender and healthcare equity for all.” [Link to full statement] Side with Love “Our Unitarian Universalist faith affirms that all of our bodies are sacred and that we are each endowed with the twin gifts of agency and conscience. Each of us should have the power to decide what does and doesn’t happen to our bodies at every moment of our lives because consent and bodily autonomy are holy. And when disparities in resources or freedoms make it more difficult for certain groups of people to exercise autonomy over their own bodies, our faith compels us to take liberatory action.” [Link to full statement] Unitarian Universalist Women’s Federation “The Unitarian Universalist Women’s Federation intends to help our community connect to ongoing activism to restore our rights. We encourage you to consider focusing your action on state-level work, as this fight is going to play out state by state. We will continue to provide resources for you to connect with groups in your local area as we can. We anticipate powerful opportunities to partner with groups on the ground both within and beyond our UU community in the coming months. This is a dark day. We will kindle light.” [Link to the statement] UUs for Social Justice: Executive Director Pablo DeJesus “We tremble at the bodily risks and social harms our fellow Americans will face in those 13 States that will see automatic bans triggered and the 13 more States that will likely see future legislation (Guttmacher Institute). The ancillary impacts on the capacity for basic health care provision are terrifying. The implications for Black and Brown communities, other people of color, people with low incomes, young people, LGBTQ communities, immigrants, and people with disabilities are serious. To our view, no corner of our nation, not one state or Congressional District will be spared the consequences. The UU prophetic voice will be required in this struggle, as will our capacity for solidarity with the harmed. And to be sure, this generational struggle will require the full might of our many hands set to labor against both the near and present harms as well as those looming in the future. We allies of Roe v. Wade must be present for the midterms and beyond. Our faith teaches us that bodies are sacred and that our choices are sacred, especially when we act from conviction and principle.” [Link to full statement] | | | | | | | UUSJ Elects New Board of Trustees The UUSJ Board of Trustees elected four new Trustees at the annual meeting in late June (Full Biographies). This continues a planned transition that began the last year, using staggered terms, where each year a new cohort will be seated. New Trustees include: | |  Vonna Heaton, Rockville MD, is a passionate and lifelong student and practitioner of Unitarian Universalist principles. She became a Unitarian Universalist and joined River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation in 2013, putting her energy and passion into serving with the congregation’s Racial Justice Task Force and other teams. Before joining the ranks of the joyfully retired persons, Vonna’s first career was as a math teacher, and then 34 years as a federal employee. She earned many distinctions, including the National Intelligence Superior Service Medal and the Presidential Meritorious Rank Award. Vonna's life has been graced by the love of her family, including her husband, Ed, an identical twin sister, and nieces. She and Ed are also parents to Ed’s daughter, son, and granddaughter. |  Meleah Houseknecht is a member of First Universalist Church of Minneapolis MN, Meleah holds a master’s degree in environmental management from the Yale School of the Environment and has nearly 20 years of experience engaging stakeholders in environmental policy development and implementation. In 2021, she began the journey of following her call to Unitarian Universalist ministry and is currently a student at United Theological Seminary. Meleah originally hails from West Virginia but has happily settled in South Minneapolis where she enjoys walking and biking, sometimes with her spouse and two children and sometimes blissfully alone. |  Rev. Kristin Schmidt, Olney MD, grew up in Silver Spring MD, and attended Cedar Lane UU Church with her parents. Kristin earned her Bachelor of Arts in music and spent six months working in England, where she heard the call to ministry. She earned her Master of Divinity from Wesley Theological Seminary, graduating in 2010, and met her husband while doing her internship at the Bay Area UU Church in Houston TX. Since then, she’s served congregations in Massachusetts, New Jersey, California, and now the UU Church of Silver Spring back in Maryland. She lives with her husband, four boys, dog, and cat.  Leon Winston, Santa Fe NM, retired in 2020 as the Chief Operating Officer and Housing Director of Swords to Plowshares in San Francisco, CA. While with Swords to Plowshares, Leon became agency lead in creating multiple permanent supportive and deeply affordable housing projects, including specialized projects for homeless and disabled senior veterans and the chronically homeless. Leon has a Master of Nonprofit Administration, a Bachelor of Public Administration degree from the University of San Francisco, and an Alcohol and Drug Abuse Studies certificate from the University of California at Berkeley. Leon and his husband, Michael Morford, MD, moved in mid-2020 following their retirement to Santa Fe, where they are building a home and are active members of Unitarian Universalist Santa Fe. | | | | | | A special thank you to our nominating committee which did an excellent job vetting the candidates: Deb Bauder, Edmonds WA; Emily Koechlin, Takoma Park MD; Gayle Boyd, Santa Fe NM; Rev. T.J. FitzGerald, Honolulu HI. And to the leadership of Chloe Emily Ockey (Board Secretary) and Rev. Peggy Clarke (Board member). | |  | | | | | | | Shut The Door On The Next Coup:
Reform the Electoral Count Act ECA Team Led Issue Briefing
Tuesday, July 12
8pm ET | 7pm CT | 6pm MT | 5pm PT
Learn about the issue, join the UUSJ Democracy Action Team on July 12th at 8pmET/5pmPT to hear more about the Electoral Count Act, in support of the July Write Here! Write Now! letter-writing campaign and meetings. RSVP here. Correcting Flaws In The ECA The January 6 congressional hearings have revealed shocking new details in the political, legal, and violent attacks on our democracy. A bipartisan group of senators is working to correct flaws in the Electoral Count Act (ECA) to thwart future legal attacks. This revised act would update, tighten and clarify the ECA of 1887, which guides the casting and counting of electoral votes for the presidency, including the role of Congress and the vice president. The revised act must move forward quickly. Please join with Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice in strongly reminding the Senate that the right to vote is fundamental to our democracy and we need to be confident in our election results. Write Your Senators Here Help the advocacy: Are you a constituent in Alaska, Maine, New Hampshire, North Carolina, or West Virginia. If so, fill out this form so that UUSJ can better pursue meetings with your Senators on the ECA. Join the advocacy: If you are a constituent of Connecticut or Ohio, these meetings have been set, you can use this form to RSVP for these ECA meetings. UUSJ’s Democracy Action Team (DAT) has been pushing for passage of the ECA since the Senate’s failure in January to clear the way for the Freedom to Vote: John L. Lewis Act and its devastating dereliction of duty. has been working on the Electoral Count Act. Yet these public hearings would seem to represent the best chance to apply public pressure, reset the landscape of expectations on voting rights and free elections, and motivate Congress towards action. | | | | | | | | | | News from General Assembly 2022 More than 3,200 Unitarian Universalists (UUs) from all 50 states came together virtually and in Portland, OR last month for the denomination’s annual General Assembly (GA) (June 22-26). GA is the annual gathering of UUs, and it is where the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) conducts business, gathers in community, explores the theological underpinnings of the UU faith, and emphasizes the Association’s mission and Principles. After two years of virtual GAs, this year’s event was multiplatform with both in-person and online opportunities. More than a thousand people traveled to Portland for the opportunity to meet face-to-face for the first time in three years. All in-person attendees and exhibitors were required to provide proof of Covid-19 vaccination. In addition, masking was required, and physically-distanced seating options were reserved in meeting spaces. In total, 1,776 delegates from 597 congregations and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee participated in voting democratically on denominational business. Voting on Actions of Immediate Witness, which shape the UUA’s social justice commitments, was among the business conducted during GA 2022. Those passed include: AIW 1: We Do Not Consent: Rejecting Legal Challenges to Abortion - As people who have had abortions, as co-conspirators and allies for Reproductive Justice, and as thoughtful advocates for family well-being, UUs have a moral responsibility to demand and ensure that abortion protections are codified into law. AIW 2: Anti-Racism and Reparations - The General Assembly asks Unitarian Universalists, in alignment with our faith values, to address and engage Restorative Justice through allying with representatives from the most affected communities, to take action employing those dynamics at all levels of public engagement in the political and educational spheres. AIW 3: Stop Privatization of Medicare - There is a concerted effort to privatize Medicare, to enroll people in private practices without their understanding or consenting to what is happening. The General Assembly of the UUA must go on record against the implementation of private Medicare plans. | | | | | | | | | | | An Avalanche of Principled Concern Is Needed UUSJ can’t underscore enough how close we came to a coup after our last election. We need you to write a letter to your Senators urging their support of the Electoral Count Act (ECA) to protect the decision of the voters in presidential elections. We will not give up on voting rights or free and fair elections. Nor will we relinquish any expectation for peaceful orderly transitions of power, in deference to our civil authority. The ECA would update, tighten and clarify the existing 1887 law that governs the casting and counting of the electoral votes for the presidency, including the role of Congress and the vice president. Revising this law is aimed at averting the chaos and misinformation that followed the 2020 presidential election. At the congressional January 6 hearings, we’re learning more about the coordinated political and legal assault on our democracy as well the physical violence of the insurrection. This has deepened our commitment to political engagement and accountability. Our democratic process, cannot rest solely on the moral fortitude of a handful of elected officials or high-level staff, such as the now-famous "Team Normal." By refusing to act on the ECA, the Senate continues playing a numbers game with voting rights and free elections when there are fundamental risks to our democracy. The Senate's inaction comes despite bipartisan support for ECA. We want a restoration of voting rights. We want free and fair elections. Guaranteeing the most basic protections for our democracy starts with the Electoral Count Act. Join us in urging the Senate to pass it now, before the 117th Congress expires, before the lame-duck session, and prior to the start of the 118th Congress when new players, issues, and dynamics take hold. See the full item here. Write your Senators. | | | | | | | | | Immigration Justice Steve Eckstrand & Terry Grogan, Immigration Action Team Conveners (seckstrand@verizon.net) | | | | Supreme Court Ruling On June 30, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) handed down a judgment in the matter of Biden v. Texas, the court found in favor of the Biden administration and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas' memorandum of June 2021 on the matter. The memo constituted an effort to terminate the Trump-era “remain in Mexico” asylum policy. This comes as needed progress in the fight to end a pernicious, wrongheaded policy, and more generally to restore asylum. [Full Press Release] | | Supporting the Afghan Adjustment Act The Immigration Action Team is urging support for an Afghan Adjustment Act to provide a clearer path to benefits and citizenship for vetted evacuees. The effort comes in response to the thousands of Afghan evacuees who helped Americans, allies, and humanitarian and rights groups in a dangerous war zone. Many fled torture or death to brefly find support in the US only to be later faced with an uncertain future. The team is working on advocacy actions to roll out shortly after Congress returns from recess in early July. These include: - An Action Alert for people to send letters of support to their senators, and
- Letters to the congressional staff we met, urging their members to introduce, co-sponsor, and support such a measure.
IAT realizes that there are millions of other asylum seekers in the US, many people of color, who often fled similar threats and are also in limbo due to congressional unwillingness to reform immigration laws. The team has focused – over the past year – on repeated congressional advocacy on their behalf, working with other faith-based and immigrant-led groups. The team believes that an Afghan Adjustment Act could be a rare opportunity to obtain enough bipartisan support to actually pass something and wants to support that effort. The team’s Summer meetings will focus on planning for the remainder of the year. There is interest in looking at longer-term efforts, such as providing positive messages on immigration and immigrants, and a better understanding of international trends driving migration. | | | | Senators: It’s time to reform the immigration judicial system The immigration courts are politicized, and various administrations have repeatedly made policy decisions because they’re politically expedient rather than efficient or legally sound. The courts also lack adequate funding and staffing. These fundamental problems impair the U.S. immigration court system’s ability to deliver just and impartial decisions in a timely manner. The Real Courts, Rule of Law Act of 2022 (H.R. 6577) is the clear solution to fixing this deeply flawed system. [Write Your Senators] | | | | | | | Environmental and Climate Justice To connect with UUSJ about the Environmental Action Team (info@uusj.org) | | | | Supreme Court Ruling The U.S. Supreme court just severely curtailed the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to regulate climate change, imposing limits on the ways in which the EPA can use its regulatory powers on our behalf with power plants. We must act wherever possible to thwart the climate crisis deniers and their policy. [More Information] | | Juliana v. United States: New Petition For Justice UUSJ is calling on the US Department of Justice to drop its opposition to the Juliana youth’s climate lawsuit from proceeding to trial. UUSJ and other UU organizations and congregations join more than 230 leading climate, public health, children’s, legal, labor, minority, business, faith, human rights, and environmental justice organizations supporting moving ahead with Juliana v. United States case. [Check out the full list] Filed in 2015 by 21 young Americans, the lawsuit claims that US government actions such as fossil fuel energy policies -- knowingly cause and worsen the climate crisis -- and deprive young people of their rights to a safe climate. Specifically, they fail to protect children’s constitutional rights of “life, liberty, property and equal protection of the law” and safeguard the country’s essential resources. The 21 young plaintiffs from across the country – which include 11 Black, Brown, and Indigenous youth – have waited nearly seven years for their day in court as they watched the DOJ employ tactics to delay or dismiss their lawsuit. Joining the latest move to have the Juliana case heard, UUSJ continues its support for this important case. In 2019, Levi Draheim, a then charismatic 12-year-old UU from Florida, described why he joined the case as the youngest plaintiff during the joint UU conference “Create Climate Justice: Building a Movement for a Green New Deal.” Join the petition here, to help reach the 10,000 signature mark. Let the youth be heard! #YouthvGov. UUs Working for Environmental Justice This year's proposals for Actions of Immediate Witness (AIW), during the General Assembly, included two environmental items that did not make it past the first round of voting. But you can still act for climate justice and the environment this year! Encourage federal legislators to support our domestic water resources and infrastructure as well as our global commitments to climate change mitigation and resilience. | | | | Urge the Senate to Pass the Water Resources Development Act Now that the House passed its version of the Water Resources Development Act, it's time to focus on the Senate. UUSJ offered an alert for both House and Senate in the spring, but now it is time to focus on the Senate since the House passed its version of the Water Resources Defense Act (WDRA). The Senate Environment & Public Works (EPW) Committee has already recommended floor action during its hearing (archived webcast). So now the Senate must act. WRDA provides investment in ports, harbors, and inland waterways — easing supply chain problems — as well as flood mitigation infrastructure, and ecosystem restoration in urban and rural communities. Tell Senators that WRDA can better address historic injustices by prioritizing justice outcomes in project planning, among other important actions. [Tell the Senate to Act] Tell Congress The U.S. Must Fulfill Its Green Climate Fund (GCF) Pledge The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is a global platform established to respond to climate change by investing in low-emission and climate-resilient development. The United States – responsible for a huge share of emissions causing this crisis – included no money for the GCF in last year’s budget, despite the efforts of UUSJ and its partners. The FY-2023 budget now under consideration provides an excellent opportunity to fulfill the US moral responsibility to help poorer countries that are the least responsible for the emissions causing global warming. [Tell your Senators to Act] Help the advocacy: Are you a constituent in Arkansas, Connecticut, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Hampshire, Tennessee, and Vermont? Your Senators are on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs. If so, fill out this form so that UUSJ can pursue meetings with your Senators on the GCF. | | | | | | | Economic Justice To connect with UUSJ about Economic Justice (info@uusj.org) | | The Current US Supreme Court Is Not Constitutionally Legitimate “Dobbs is a watershed attack that will come to be known as an infamous consolidation of an unrelenting extremist assault on this country's gains for equality and justice.” See the full Common Dreams article by Poor People’s Campaign leaders with the link above. | | | | Thank You! Together We Made A Moral Declaration! UUs Turn Out for Poor Peoples’ Campaign March in Washington, DC Highlights of June 18 March media coverage: | |  | | | | | | |  7750 16th Street NW
Washington, DC 20012
202-600-9132 | info@uusj.org | | | | | | | UUSJ is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions are tax-deductible as allowed by law. | | | | | | | |
