On a quiet, sunny Friday in early October in the Appalachian town of Cresaptown, Maryland, a handful of religious leaders and people of faith arrived at an abortion clinic. They were not there to protest the Women’s Health Center of Maryland, which had opened only a year prior. In fact, they were there for a very different type of clinic action—a blessing for the providers and staff, and the communities they serve, to acknowledge the clinic’s work as sacred.

Too often religious leaders show up at abortion clinics to protest and harass the patients and staff that enter them. Beginning in the 1980s, in direct response to the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, violent and extreme clinic harassment and blockades instilled fear in abortion clinic staff, patients, and doctors across the country. According to the National Abortion Federation, which has been compiling statistics on incidents of violence and disruption against abortion providers for 45 years, there have been 11 murders, 42 bombings, 196 arsons, 491 assaults, and thousands of incidents of criminal activities directed at patients, providers, and volunteers since 1977.

Since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, anti-abortion activists have redoubled their efforts to intimidate clinic workers and people seeking abortions. Now, with President Donald Trump back in the White House, issuing pardons for 23 anti-abortion clinic protesters and ordering protections under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act be curtailed, abortion care advocates and clinic staff around the country are bracing for a rising onslaught of clinic violence and harassment fueled by white Christian nationalism.

This anti-abortion narrative—that to be religious is to be against abortion rights—is false. The majority of people of faith in the United States support abortion being legal. In fact, there is a long history of religious leaders and people of faith who have supported abortion access, even before the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling. Started in 1967 by Protestant ministers and Jewish rabbis in New York City, the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion (CCS) counseled and referred people to licensed, reputable, and trusted physicians for safe abortions under the radar. By 1973, the CCS had chapters in 38 states and helped an estimated 450,000 women access safe abortions.

After Roe legalized abortion nationwide, members of the CCS formed what is now our organization, the Religious Community for Reproductive Choice (RCRC), which has been championing abortion access for more than 50 years. At RCRC, we have worked tirelessly in the face of constant abortion law restrictions and rollbacks, and our presence today is more vital than ever as white Christian Nationalism has found an ally in the White House with its hostility toward reproductive freedom.

Since 2017, RCRC has been invited by abortion providers and staff to perform blessings at their clinics in a number of states around the country. By celebrating and honoring the resilience of clinic staff in states hostile to abortion rights, these rituals demonstrate the robust religious support for reproductive freedom across traditions and regions of the country.

This isn’t to claim that all people of faith uniformly support abortion access. But it is important to show that the majority of us who support abortion do so because of our faith values, not in spite of them. That we believe each one of us is imbued with the divinely-given right to navigate the moral complexity of reproductive decision-making and practice our faith as we know it.

In October, the RCRC staff and board leaders traveled to the Mountain Maryland area to affirm and bless the work of the Women’s Health Centers of Maryland and West Virginia. Among the more than 30 present were local spiritual leaders, community supporters, and staff who participated in the ceremony, which included singing, dancing, poetry readings, religious affirmations, music, prayers, and a sand pouring ceremony performed by NAACP Allegany County President Tifani Fisher. Members of the staff along with clergy and patients offered heartfelt testimonies about the clinics’ impact on their communities. To close, faith leaders carried sage and incense throughout the building and outdoor spaces as a blessing of the physical space.

The ritual was led by Rev. Dr. Cari Jackson and Rev. Jim Lewis, an original member of the CCS. The 88 year-old has been championing safe abortion care since the 1960s. As he spoke, his voice carried the echoes of a distant era, which has now terrifyingly come back into sharp focus thanks to the Dobbs decision.

“Make America Great Again?” he asked rhetorically. “More like Make America Gruesome Again!,” he stated before sharing stories about some of the women he helped before Roe.

The staff from both clinics expressed what a welcome change it was to be supported by faith leaders in their work. What we don’t hear enough of in the ongoing discourse around extreme abortion bans is the devastating impact on clinic workers. Hidden behind the brave faces that show up to work every day, in states where doctors are retreating and clinics are downsizing or being shuttered altogether, is a profound sense of loss as they are no longer able to provide the abortion care that their communities need.

Katie Quiñónez-Alonso, the (now former) executive director of WHC Maryland, shared sobering remarks about what it meant for the West Virginia clinic to cease all abortion provision after the 2022 Dobbs decision, and how their determination to serve their community motivated them to open the sister clinic across the border within the space of a year.

“Just like the patients that we serve, today is complex,” she said, holding back tears.

“Today is a moment to acknowledge the immense grief we live with daily, knowing that our community in West Virginia has lived under a total abortion ban for two years. Abortion care is a labor of love, and today we feel that love reflected back to us. Our story is one of courage, determination, and integrity. It is also a story of deep loss and the miraculous hope and faith that we are capable of despite it.”

We knew how important it was to hold space for this grief, both in October and going forward.

Since Trump’s second inauguration in January, we as an organization often talk about the Women’s Health Center clinic blessing, remembering how vital it is for RCRC and people of faith to publicly and unapologetically support abortion access for all. While we brace ourselves for what the next four years will bring, we know that the hope of abortion access in Appalachia—and the rest of the country—remains because of clinics like the Women’s Health Center, who need people of faith to unwaveringly support reproductive freedom and continue to bless and support their work.

As we saw in the news headlines and viral reactions after Bishop Mariann Budde’s inauguration address, when people of faith speak out to champion social justice causes and to advocate for the marginalized, their message is heard loud and clear. At RCRC, we urge more faith leaders to take a stand and use their voices to uplift the holy and sacred work of abortion providers. It will take all of us to ensure patients continue to access the care they need and deserve, and clinics and their staff are supported.