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Biography/History - Scope and Content
Guide to the Papers of the Clergy Consultation Service, 1967-1979
Abstract: These materials collected by E. Spencer Parsons consist of articles, newspaper ephemera, correspondence, minutes of meetings, membership rosters, and sermons and addresses related to the activities of the Clergy Consultation Service between 1968 and 1976. A book on the history of the organization is also included: Arlene Carmen and Howard Moody, Abortion Counseling and Social Change: from Illegal Act to Medical Practice; The Story of the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion, 1973 .
Biographical History
The Clergy Consultation Service was founded in 1967 by twenty-one ministers and rabbis who established the counseling service to advise women about problem pregnancies and make referrals on medical issues including abortion. This group was initially centered at Judson Memorial Church in New York City where Howard Moody served as senior pastor. The New York CCS raised money to fund a Reproduction Crisis Facility in 1969 which operated until repeal of that legislation in 1972. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling on 23 January 1973 guaranteed women the right to choose when and whether to bear children.
