As clergy and people of faith from across Ohio, we join together to articulate a common message: Abortion bans are against our religion.

Even as we come from many different congregations and many distinct faith backgrounds, we are unified in our opposition to the assault on reproductive health, rights, and justice that we are experiencing today at the hands of the Ohio General Assembly.

Our many religious traditions teach us that informed consent is holy, bodily autonomy is righteous, and the right to choose what happens to our own bodies is a moral right granted to us by a power far higher than the state and our elected leaders.

While the assaults against reproductive rights and bodily autonomy in the Ohio legislature are nearly constant, we watch with dismay at new attempts to enact an outright ban on all abortion — particularly through Senate Bill 123, or the “Trigger Ban.”

As people of faith, we deplore this immoral attempt to control the bodies of pregnant Ohioans. We name SB 123 as a moral ill designed to stigmatize, shame, and demoralize people who have abortions.

We decry this anti-abortion agenda as the unholy legislative product of a narrow group of religious extremists who seek to force their unpopular religious dogma onto the bodies of people who do not share their beliefs.

We support the freedom of all Ohioans to make their own reproductive decisions, free from government interference.

We commit to steadfastly oppose all attempts to further restrict abortion access in Ohio, and we do so not in spite of our religious values, but rather because of them.

Hear our voices. Respect our faiths. Stop the bans.