The Fountain Hills Democratic Club (FHDC) met at the Community Center on Thursday, Feb. 9, and welcomed keynote speaker Dr. Cari Jackson.

Jackson is the former director of spiritual care and activism at Religious Coalition for Reproductive Care. She currently serves as president of Excellent Way, which provides practical spirituality to transform daily lives that incorporate wisdom from diverse spiritual traditions.

At the meeting, Jackson offered a historical perspective of reproductive rights and provided examples from American history to explain how race has played a role in shaping many of current political and legal policies towards this issue.

“Jackson believes that principles of morality are not fixed, they are socially constructed and tend to move in relation to context,” Chris Clemens said, FHDC spokesperson. “She also feels that churches today have become institutionalized and many politicians now focus on single issues, rather than including a more broad range perspective.”

According to Clemens, Jackson emphasized that the majority of people of faith believe in personal reproductive freedom, not state control.