‘We must work together, with more strategic action and less reaction, to reaffirm that the right

to choose unequivocally

Voice for Choice

belongs to each woman and girl, regardless of race, location, and economic status.” — Robin Marty, Crow After Roe

Newsletter of the Kentucky Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice

Spring 2021

KRCRC Launches Pro-Choice, Pro-Faith

Billboard Campaign
Three Kentucky Locations Now Running Pro-Choice Messages
by Carol Savkovich
Carol Savkovich is Vice-Chair of KRCRC Board.

With help from over 100 donors, KRCRC is now running In March,
ads on digital billboards in Louisville, the Lexington area, KRCRC launched
and Paducah. a GoFundMe
campaign
Having endured years of seeing anti-abortion billboards (tinyurl.com/
(“When you were in the womb, I knew you”), KRCRC’s krcrcbillboards)
board decided to let Kentuckians know that you can be a with a goal of
person of faith AND ALSO be pro-choice. raising $18,000 to enable the purchase of billboard space
in three Kentucky locations over an eight-week period.
The board promised to provide from the KRCRC treasury
You can be a whatever additional funds were needed to reach this total.
person of faith As of this writing, the GoFundMe campaign plus checks
received to our P.O. box have totaled over $9400.
AND ALSO be
pro-choice. Cont. on page 3.

2021 Legislative Wrap-Up

by Angela Cooper
Angela Cooper serves the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky as
Communications Director.
The Kentucky General Assembly completed its 30-day even in cases of rape, incest, or life-threatening conditions.
legislative session just before midnight on Tuesday, March It would also enshrine an existing law prohibiting private
30. This session looked a little different than years past. insurance companies from covering abortion care.
While our advocacy team was unable to have a physical
presence in the Capitol, we still testified on or arranged This amendment will likely appear on ballots in 2022.
testimony for many key pieces of legislation and connected The ACLU of Kentucky will work with allies to inform
Kentuckians with lawmakers. Kentuckians about implications of this extreme proposal and
defend Kentuckians’ constitutional right to abortion care.
As we predicted, reproductive freedom was a key focus
of this session. Unfortunately, the legislature continued its The General Assembly also passed House Bill 2 to give
years-long attack on reproductive freedom with the passage the Attorney General new powers to interfere with and
of House Bill 91, a proposed amendment to Kentucky’s undermine oversight of abortion care providers, instead of
Constitution entirely to deny the right to abortion care, leaving it to career health experts in the Cabinet for Health
Cont. on page 3.
 Wayne’s Words
PAGE 2

by the Rev. Wayne A. Gnatuk

The Reverend Wayne A. Gnatuk is the Chair of the KRCRC Board of Directors.
All of us in the KRCRC Board family have been very, very the pandemic, we’re not currently
happy lately! The reason? As you can read elsewhere in this employing any staff, but we do
issue, we have been honored to receive a bequest of over hope to do so again! And soon!
$13,000 from Jean Elizabeth Tucker, who died June 19, 2020.
Our staff person would help
Jean and I had a lovely conversation one night at a KRCRC us reach out to reproductive
fundraising event. I have no idea if she had already written justice-friendly congregations
her will at that point, but here’s the certainty: When Jean throughout Kentucky, and would Rev. Wayne A. Gnatuk
passed, she had definitely written her will. Because she also participate in starting new
specified a part of her estate as a posthumous gift to chapters in Kentucky to augment the two we currently have
KRCRC, we were pleasantly surprised in early January of this here in Louisville and Lexington.
year to find out about her gift to our ministry.
As you already know, we work hard to provide an alternative
Would you be willing to make a gift to KRCRC as part of to the far-right, evangelical and conservative narrative
your planned giving program? God knows we can use the that so blatantly denies a woman’s right to choose. Since
financial help! pre-Roe v. Wade days, progressive Americans of faith have
instead affirmed reproductive justice as an essential part of
KRCRC generally limps along, making do with what we have. our God’s wishes for humanity. Alas, there are days when
Recently, however, we’ve been working towards a dream: a advocating this perspective feels more than a little like
full-time staff person! For a couple of brief intervals, we’ve spitting into the wind.
actually had a part-time staff person, something totally new
in KRCRC’s history. Because of the limitations caused by With your planned financial support, we’ll be far better able
to develop the progressive reproductive justice agenda and to
support the right of women to control their own bodies. But
to do so, we really do need your contributions. A planned
gift to KRCRC in your will would be a wonderful legacy, and
all of us in the KRCRC family would be deeply grateful!

While there’s no need for you to tell us in advance about a

bequest you make to KRCRC, we are available to help you
with the process if you wish. Please contact me directly, by
telephone at 859.294.7474 or by email at wagnatuk@outlook.
com.

And don’t forget Jean Tucker’s example: she took time to

arrange her gift to us before she died. Afterwards is, after all,
too late!

With your planned

financial support, we’ll be far
better able to develop the
progressive reproductive justice
agenda and to support the right
of women to control their own
bodies. But to do so, we really do
need your contributions.
Four KRCRC board members joined a rally led by Planned Parenthood
in Frankfort in January to protest proposed legislation. From left:
Stephanie Compton, Rev. Diane Snowa, Board Chair Rev. Wayne A.
Gnatuk, Carol Savkovich.
 PAGE 3
Billboard Campaign Cont. from page 1.
Our billboards began running April 18, and will run
until June 13. The billboards show rotating electronic
images. KRCRC has created four images: one of
our images will appear for eight of each 64 seconds,
alternating with unrelated ads. You can see these
billboards:
• Good people face hard decisions and deserve
• in Louisville, driving southbound on I-65 (from compassion and love, not shame and harassment.
downtown towards the airport), on your right at the • Reproductive choice is a private matter between you and
Fairgrounds/Expo Center. your doctor.
• in the Lexington area, driving southbound towards • You can be religious AND pro-choice.
Nicholasville, on right hand side at 3060 Lexington Rd.
• in Paducah, at 5124 Park Avenue. This may be the first time many Kentuckians have ever
heard such “radical” messages. We expect our billboard
What do we hope to accomplish with these billboards? campaign to be controversial, and to bring attention – both
First and foremost, we want Kentuckians – those who may favorable and unfavorable – to KRCRC. The Reverend
have had an abortion or someday may have one, as well as Diane Snowa, a retired minister of the United Church
the general public – to hear our messages: of Christ and current KRCRC board member, is the
• Good people have abortions and God loves them. KRCRC’s press spokesperson for the billboard campaign.

If you want to donate to our Pro-Choice Billboard

Campaign, you can give online at tinyurl.com/
krcrcbillboards. Or you can send a check (notated
Billboard Campaign) to KRCRC at PO Box 4065,
Louisville KY 40204.

2021 Wrap-Up Cont. from page 1.

and Family Services (CHFS). House Bill 2 is clearly not parents with a social worker to make a reunification plan
about improving health and safety, as it singles out providers post-incarceration.
of abortion care – an already incredibly tightly regulated area
of healthcare – and no other types of healthcare providers. Another positive development was House Bill 212,
This law will allow AG Cameron to penalize providers, even sponsored by Representative Samara Heavrin. This bill
if health experts at CHFS disagree. This bill became law requires Kentucky’s annual report on child and maternal
after the legislature overrode the Governor’s veto. mortality to include a demographic analysis by race, income,
and geography. It also requires the report be sent to the
Legislators also passed Senate Bill 9, which forces doctors to Interim Joint Committee on Health, Welfare, and Family
deviate from their best medical judgment. Senate Bill 9 is not Services and be publicly accessible on the Legislative
based in the real-life practice of medicine and proponents Research Commission’s website. Including this publicly
of the bill could not even cite an event occurring that would accessible demographic information will help policymakers
warrant this law. SB 9 serves only to shame and ostracize and advocates to understand the issues facing pregnant
patients and healthcare providers. It became law without the Kentuckians and children and to reduce racial disparities
Governor’s signature. in and overall rates of maternal and infant mortality. This
is a first step in combating Kentucky’s increasing maternal
Despite these losses, there were some legislative wins for mortality rates and identifying inequities in our maternal care.
reproductive justice this session. Dignity Bill 2, sponsored
by Senator Julie Raque Adams, passed unanimously. This bill To join the fight for reproductive freedom in Kentucky,
builds on a 2018 law and sets a standard of care for pregnant follow @ACLUofKY on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram,
incarcerated people so that they can have safe, healthy sign up for email action alerts at ACLU-KY.org, and become
pregnancies. It protects persons who are incarcerated while a member for just $5 at ACLU-KY.org/Join or make a tax-
pregnant from being sent to solitary confinement and from deductible donation at ACLU-KY.org/Give.
being restrained during childbirth. It also allows time for
parents to bond with their children postpartum and connects
 “I Did What I Could”
PAGE 4

KRCRC Remembers The Rev. Gilbert Leroy Schroerlucke

December 11, 1923-January 4, 2021
by Ann T. Allen
Ann T. Allen is a KRCRC Board Member and the editor of Voice for Choice.

This January, we lost a champion of reproductive justice. her college degree and then
Gilbert Schroerlucke, born in 1923 on a farm in Jefferson worked as a teacher.
County, Kentucky, attended local schools and excelled
in sports. He responded to “greetings from Uncle Sam” Schroerlucke joined KRCRC
in 1943, and was assigned to a mobile hospital unit that after he retired from the
moved through France, Belgium, and Germany. He later ministry in the 1980s. At
remarked that the “heart of the abortion
Rejecting the “upon reflection, debate,” he reflected, “the
it’s easy for me to question remains: what makes The Rev. Gilbert Schroerlucke
rigid doctrines of some
say today that WAR an abortion legitimate and
churches, he contended that
IS HELL. Those who should decide?” Only the woman, he concluded,
only the woman herself who would put must decide. “I believe God is in the middle of situations,”
could decide whether she a romantic twist he wrote, “and desires the best for those involved. Great
would bear a child. to it just do not damage can be done when an arbitrary law is forced as an
understand.” absolute on a situation.”

After returning home to Louisville, Schroerlucke began his Schroerlucke took the lead in all the organization’s work,
preparation for the United Methodist ministry at Kentucky including clinic escorting. As a well-known figure on the
Wesleyan College. There he met his life partner, Bettye Jean sidewalk in front of the EMW clinic on Saturdays, he
Everley, whom he married in 1948. After graduating from compared demonstrators who harass vulnerable patients to
the Candler School of Theology in 1952, Schroerlucke began the crowd that Jesus rebuked for stoning a woman accused
a thirty-two- year career with the Louisville Conference of of adultery. Jesus “went against the dominant culture of
the United Methodist Church and served five congregations, his day and stood up for a woman,” he asserted. “This was
both urban and rural. a revolutionary act. We must do the same.” Schroerlucke
also took a public stance in favor of same-sex marriage and
Schroerlucke took over as pastor of the West Broadway fairness to gay and lesbian people.
United Methodist Church in 1966 at the height of the
Civil Rights movement. He became an outspoken advocate As he tells us in his memoir, entitled I Did What I Could,
of integration and racial equality. In 1976, he joined with Gil Schroerlucke placed social justice at the heart of his
leaders of the Black community to invite the civil rights lifelong Christian faith and practice. He did not just preach
leader Angela Davis to speak at West Broadway Church. this gospel but incurred threats, condemnation, and risks—
Methodist Conference both personal and professional—to uphold it. “Gil was a
leaders, who objected beautiful, caring man,” recalls Kate Cunningham. The best
to Davis partly because tribute we can pay to his memory is to follow his example.
she was a member of
the Communist Party, For more on the life and work of Gil Schroerlucke, see the
threatened to cut off the testimonies of five friends on the KRCRC Web page, at
church’s funding. tinyurl.com/GilSchroerlucke.

In these turbulent I believe God

times, Schroerlucke was
is in the middle of situations,
fortunate to have the
support of his family, and desires the best for those
including his wife Bettye involved. Great damage can
and their five children. be done when an arbitrary law
When her older children is forced as an absolute on a
left for college, Bettye situation.
Schroerlucke completed
 In Memoriam

PAGE 5
Jean Elizabeth Tucker, 1941-2020
by Ann T. Allen

Jean Elizabeth Tucker, who was born in Louisville, received a River Writers, a writers’ group
MA degree in French and English at the University of Iowa. based in Louisville. She published
She worked in publishing and then as an associate professor several volumes of poetry. “She
of English as a second language at Jefferson Community and was one of the best poets I’ve
Technical College. A member of Thomas Jefferson Unitarian ever known,” remembered her
Church (now All People’s Unitarian Church), she advocated friend Mary O’Dell. In “Season’s Jean Elizabeth Tucker
immigrants’ rights and the reform of health care, including End in Sougia,” she evoked the
especially a single-payer health-insurance system. She was melancholy closing day of a Greek beach resort:
also a traveler and student of languages who lived and
worked in Germany, Greece, and France. The last ferry glides across the horizon.
At the beach tavernas, the waiters
Tucker, who Herd the chairs together under the awning.
learned to love Jean Tucker
poetry during supported reproductive Whatever you want to know, it is too late.
her second Questions are only for the asking.
year of college,
justice with a generous Let them go, let them go.
was for many bequest to KRCRC. We
years a member thank her and treasure her Jean Tucker supported reproductive justice with a generous
of Green bequest to KRCRC. We thank her and treasure her memory.
memory.

Turning the Temperature Down: A New

Campaign for a Clinic Safety Zone
by Ann T. Allen
Clinic escorts who support patients of the EMW surgical extending from the clinic
center in Louisville report that the coronavirus pandemic has entrance to the curb where
not changed the behavior of the protesters outside the clinic. blocking, standing, or
Some offer pamphlets; others pray, wave signs, shout, hold impeding entry would be
out rubber “fetuses.” Few wear masks. Escorts and patient forbidden. Such a zone, its
advocates warn that this is a volatile situation that could proponents say, would not
easily turn violent. interfere with the protesters’ First Amendment rights, as they
are free to stand and speak on all the rest of the sidewalk.

Last summer, the Louisville Metro Council voted against

It is a COVID legislation that would have allowed EMW and other health
concern, but that’s not the care facilities to create such a safety zone. But the newly
elected councilman for the district where EMW is located,
only reason this is a public Jecorey Arthur, plans to bring back the proposal. “This
safety nightmare. has been an issue for decades,” said Meg Stern, Support
Fund Director for Kentucky Health Justice Network, “It is
a COVID concern, but that’s not the only reason this is a
public safety nightmare.”
In order to “turn the temperature down,” to prevent
dangerous confrontations, and to protect the rights of Check https://www.facebook.com/LouSafetyZone/ for
patients to choose and have access to medical care, advocates more information.
call for a safety zone—an area twelve feet in width and Source: Louisville Courier-Journal, February 9 and 17, 2021.
 Bringing Reproductive Justice to the Forefront
PAGE 6

by The Rev. Diane Snowa

Diane Snowa is a retired pastor and a new member of the KRCRC Board of Directors.
As a new member of the board of KRCRC, I want to say My early marriage of four
thank you to all for the warm welcome. And I want to share years (1963), blessed me with
a bit more of who I am. a son Matthew Dale. In 1992,
I married Walter Snowa, and
I was born in southwestern New York State in 1935 and his positions have taken us
moved eastward with the family several times, arriving in from Missouri to Virginia and
Binghamton during third grade. I was shy and withdrawn. Kentucky. After we married,
In seventh grade, a classmate asked if I would join her in we discovered a real conflict in
picking an instrument and playing in the band. My French plans for retirement. I wanted
horn became my companion for the next six years – north with lots of snow, and
marching band, concert band, and orchestra. From there, I he wanted south with lots of
attended Keuka College, Keuka Park, NY, graduating with a warmth. The Rev. Diane Snowa
BA in English-Journalism (1957).
Walter’s call to Louisville resolved our conflict! We fell in
After working as a Keuka admissions counselor for one love with Louisville: its museums, music, population diversity,
year, I joined my parents who had moved to St. Louis, sports, educational opportunities, almost enough snow for
Missouri. I taught communications in secondary school and me and enough warm days to keep Walter satisfied. Once
developmental reading and writing in community college. here, in addition to church pastoring, I accepted an invitation
In 1972, I earned an MAT:LA from Webster University, St. to join the board that established a Christian congregation
Louis. inside the Luther Luckett Correctional Complex and worked
for criminals’ and victims’ rights within the justice systems.
Today, I am In 1984, I
answered a My activism began circa 1960 when a friend and I petitioned
impassioned to bring perceived call St. Louis County government to designate parking spaces for
reproductive choice/ to seminary, cars with drivers and/or passengers with physical disabilities.
justice to the forefront of earning a From there, years of civil and human rights demonstrations,
conversations inside and Master of leading to a year (’78-79) doing volunteer work in rural Brazil
Divinity in human and community development.
beyond the church.
degree
at Eden Today, I am impassioned to bring reproductive choice/
Theological Seminary, also in St. Louis. As a local church justice to the forefront of conversations inside and beyond
pastor, I have served seven churches in Missouri, Virginia, the church. Joining the KRCRC Board gives me colleagues,
and Kentucky, and have worked as a hospital chaplain in support, and opportunity.
Missouri (specific to the Oncology Dept) and in Virginia at
Children’s Hospital of the Kings Daughters.

Do you shop at Kroger, with a Kroger Plus card?

You can be giving KRCRC a financial boost, at no cost to you!
Two simple steps:
1.Go to www.kroger.com/communityrewards.
Create an account or sign in.
2.Follow the instructions to select an organization.
KRCRC is #SU106.
Now you’re ready to help KRCRC every time you shop! Just use your Kroger
card (including at the gas pump), and KRCRC will receive a small percent of
your purchases. Thank you!
Planned Parenthood Continues to Educate

PAGE 7
Kentuckians in This “New Normal” Era
by Heather Bruner.
Heather Bruner is the Philanthropy Affinity Officer of Planned Parenthood
of Indiana and Kentucky.

While the medical services and advocacy work of Planned engagement or participants.
Parenthood are constantly covered by the media, the vital We built relationships and
work of our community educators is frequently overlooked. a sense of community for
However, in this year of unprecedented challenges, our team students who desperately
has continued to offer educational programs to youth and need it. In addition to
adults across Kentucky. normal programming, the
Teen Council hosted monthly
Kentucky has a history of negative educational, economic, “fun meetings” where Heather Bruner
and health outcomes that result from a lack of access to participants played virtual
medically accurate sexual health education and preventive games, streamed movies
care. According to the Centers for Disease Control and together, and did a gift swap. Our educators were also able
Prevention (CDC), Kentuckians face several problems of to support the students through Facetime as they facilitated
sexual and reproductive health—problems that affect family lessons to their peers.
stability, educational achievement, workforce participation,
self-sufficiency, and economic mobility. Among these The versatile young people who work with us have created
problems are the fifth-highest teen birth rate in the nation, a social-media content and videos to share information on
higher infant mortality rate than the national average, one of safe and healthy relationships, contraception, and gender and
the nation’s highest rates of cervical cancer, and its sixth- racial equity in the area of reproductive justice. The data
highest rate of cervical cancer mortality. In almost every we have collected over the past year continues to show that
county, HIV/STI incidence rates are climbing to record- Planned Parenthood’s educational program empowers these
setting levels. Furthermore, the CDC reports that Kentucky participants, their peers, their families, and the community
teens experience above-average rates of dating violence and to make healthier choices for their bodies and their
are more likely to report being forced to have sex. Although relationships.
nationally the teen birth rate is at an all-time low, Kentucky’s
teen birth rates remain much higher than the average. Comprehensive sex education is vital to the well-being of
the Commonwealth. Without a standardized sexual health
Planned Parenthood aims to counter these trends by sending curriculum in our schools, misinformation spreads far and
out trained, community-based educators to provide age- wide, and contributes to the poor health and economic
appropriate and medically accurate education in sexual outcomes in our state. No one else in Kentucky is doing
and reproductive health. We currently have two full-time this work, and Planned Parenthood’s programs are crucial to
educators in Kentucky: one serves Jefferson County and the creating a healthier community for future generations.
other the Eastern Kentucky counties of Knott, Lee, Leslie,
Letcher, Owsley, Perry, Wolfe, Pike, Johnson, Floyd, Martin, To support our educational staff and programing, please visit
Magoffin, Breathitt, Clay, Harlan, and Knox. They offer www.ppink.org/donate and make a gift today.
both formal curricula and informal outreach events. Classes
meet in public schools, community centers, youth treatment
facilities, and other partnering institutions. Additionally, our
educator in Jefferson county also leads the award-winning
Teen Council program. Through extensive training and
mentorship support, Teen Council empowers teens to
Help KRCRC
provide comprehensive, affirming, non-judgmental, and continue our work
inclusive sexual health education to their peers through both Donate online at
presentations and social interaction. krcrc.org
Or send a check to:
KRCRC, P.O. Box 4615,
When schools and organizations across the country were Louisville, KY 40204
closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our education
program immediately moved into the virtual space. We were
able to adapt our lessons to this new format without losing
 Kentucky Religious Coalition
for Reproductive Choice
PO Box 4065
Louisville, KY 40204

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

The Religious Community in Support of an Individual’s Right to Choose!

Newsletter Editor:
A Thousand Handsewn Masks and Counting
Ann T. Allen
Design & Layout:
KRCRC and KHJN Thank Rita Sasse
Jennifer Shank
When the pandemic reached Kentucky in March of 2020 we were all
Voice for Choice is a shaken by the sudden and urgent situation. Businesses, organizations,
publication of the and faith communities all had to adapt quickly, and many “boots on
Kentucky Religious
Coalition for
the ground” volunteers, including members of the Louisville Clinic
Reproductive Choice. Escorts, and long-distance transportation volunteers with Kentucky
Health Justice Network (KHJN) had to take a step back and isolate
Tel: 1.866.606.0988 themselves for safety. One of those sidewalk and transport volunteers,
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.krcrc.org Rita Sasse, is also a KRCRC board member. When Rita had to pause her front-line activities, she
Twitter: @Ky_RCRC started sewing cloth masks for the escorts who remained on the sidewalk-- an act of love and
community care. Due to PPE shortages across the country, the staff and patients at EMW also
KRCRC
PO Box 4065
needed equipment, so Rita kept on sewing, eventually making masks for Louisville’s unhoused
Louisville, KY 40204 and Latinx communities as well. In January 2021 Rita sewed her thousandth mask, and she is still
at it. KRCRC and KHJN send a BIG THANK YOU to Rita for her adaptability and dedication.