A Personal Response to the Apology from the Church of Scotland

and mourning Roe v. Wade

Photo by Alex Gorham on Unsplash

Hello friends,

I’m mourning the repeal of Roe vs. Wade in the USA. Thirty years ago when I lived in the US, I was an abortion rights activist in the Bay Area and did clinic defence--basically helping escort women who needed healthcare through hostile throngs of Christian zealots. It was a war zone even then. I have been gone from the US for so long I no longer felt that sense of doom that came with those confrontations, but there were many signs that this imminent. It's still such a shock. In hindsight that's a story that could have gone into the book I am writing about that other, four-hundred year old war against women, the witch hunts in Scotland. 

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a personal response to the recent motion from the elders of the Church of Scotland outlining their intention to apologise to the victims of the witch hunts. It matters deeply to me as a lapsed Christian, but what, exactly, will it mean? You can read my take on it at my blog: https://allysonshaw.com/2022/06/08/a-lapsed-christian-weighs-in/