Howard Moody

Howard Russell Moody was an American clergyman and longtime champion of civil rights and free expression. Born in Texas, he attended Baylor University, served in the U.S. Marines during World War II, and received degrees from what is now the University of California, Santa Barbara and Yale Divinity School. He was ordained as an American Baptist at Judson Memorial Church in New York City, and was a pastor there from 1957 to 1992. In 1967, six years before the Supreme Court recognized the constitutional right to abortion, Moody and other New York City clergy founded the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion- “a group of 21 New York clergy who referred women for abortions when it was still illegal in every state.”. The group eventually grew into “a national network of 1,400 clergy members to help women seeking abortions. Three years later, when New York State legalized abortion, he helped establish a clinic to guide to his state women who wanted safe legal abortions.” After Roe v. Wade in 1973, the network formed the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.