This Time of Year

by Rev. Terry Williams

Thirteen years ago I began as pastor & teacher at a small town congregation of the United Church of Christ in Chillicothe, Ohio. It was around this time of year that a young person came to my office seeking a listening ear — someone who would hear her story and not judge, and who could also understand that she was seeking spiritual resources in addition to material aid.

“I think I want to have an abortion, but I’d like to know what my options are.”

As a young Christian minister who was both theologically and socially supportive of abortion rights for most of my life, I was embarrassingly ill-prepared to offer immediate assistance. We fumbled through the phone book together for about an hour, calling a half dozen numbers of everything from the ACLU and Planned Parenthood to our local abortion fund and national religious reproductive rights organizations.

Between searching and dialing, we talked about the most important things: Dreams. Hopes. Plans for the future. Thoughts about God. Fears about family. Anxieties of school. Learnings about ex-dating partners.

She was the first of many who, over that following year, came to seek counsel and help; word of mouth spreads fast in small towns! My pastoral interaction with this trusting, searching person — and the multitude like her that followed — transformed my life. Always an eager advocate of reproductive rights, I began to organize for reproductive freedom in my local community. Building resource packets, interfacing with clinics for care planning, transporting individuals to and from appointments, and eventually volunteering to participate in a religious blessing of an abortion clinic (with what is now Faith Choice Ohio) all stemmed from seeing God’s spirit alive and working in the face and heart of a person seeking abortion care in front of me.

As religious voices who defend reproductive freedom, we testify every day to faithfully pro-choice, abortion-positive values in ways that transform and heal not just the lives of others, but the entire world. May you always remember the power your advocacy-turned-organizing can have to shape a new and better world for all — especially this time of year.

Keep blessing our world!

Mark your calendar!

·      Thursday January 22, 2026: on the anniversary of Wade v. Roe, KRCRC will be participating in the Justice Center’s film festival and show the documentary The Janes (2022) at All Peoples Unitarian Universalist Church in Louisville (4936 Brownsboro Rd). Doors open at 6:30pm. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion regarding the current context of reproductive rights in KY. Visit the page of the festival and register for the screening(s).

·      Sunday January 25, 2026: KRCRC will host a virtual conversation with Rev. Donna Schaper who is featured in the documentary The Janes as one of the former members of the Clergy Consultation Service. The conversation will start at 3pm on Zoom (an email will be sent with the Zoom link).

·      Sunday February 1, 2026: in collaboration with the Justice Center at All Peoples and the Louisville chapter of the National Council of Jewish Women, KRCRC is hosting an interfaith forum on reproductive rights. It will be held at All Peoples Unitarian Universalist Church in Louisville (4936 Brownsboro Rd) and start at 2:30pm.