The Clergy Consultation Service

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Rabbis and ministers all over the country formed an underground network of doctors willing to provide safe abortions. The clergy consultation service was helmed by howard moody, senior minister of judson memorial church in new york. He held secret meetings in church basements and travelled around the country to meet with clergy in their homes explain the plan. They also needed to get the word out to women. So in may of 19 67, they issued a public statement. Parts of it were published on the front page of the new York times. And they listed a phone number women could call. I'm phoebe judge, this is criminal.

In 1967, a very unlikely group of individuals gathered to quietly break the law and help facilitate abortions. They established a phone number. When you called it, a recording of a woman's voice would tell you what to do next.

Who was behind this number? The Clergy Consultation Service, an underground network of ministers and rabbis who wanted to help people access safe abortions in a time before it was legal. We first aired our conversations with some of them in 2017. And after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade earlier this year, we decided to call some of them back.

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