When the US Supreme Court made the landmark decision to overturn Roe v Wade and almost 50 years of protecting the constitutional right to abortion, women and womb-bodied individuals were robbed of their fundamental right to reproductive freedom, putting their health and safety at risk. PodHER, a female, Latina-run non-profit organization founded by Ingrid Silva that helps all womxn embrace and understand their power through storytelling and meaningful conversations, wanted to create a community to help those most affected by this devastating decision.

The overturning of Roe v Wade removed the constitutional right to abortion. But The Constitution does say that ”Congress shall not make any laws prohibiting the exercise of any given religion”. With that in mind, we hacked the system by creating a religion that includes the right to choose as a core tenet. The Congregation is a belief system created to help make abortion a constitutional right again, leveraging the Constitution to protect individuals' most fundamental rights. Through the creation of our belief system and efforts, we are exploring how the first amendment of the constitution can be used to protect reproductive rights by a religious liberty claim in a post-Roe United States.Our website is a Pro-Choice website aggregator launched on January 22nd (what would have been the 50th anniversary of Roe v Wade) to help connect like-minded people helping them to take action through driving traffic to legitimate entities

In order for a religion to be recognized, the core beliefs must be documented. Our challenge was to create a "bible" for the 21st century that outlines the beliefs of The Congregation without being connected to any specific religion. The entire book reinforces the mission to unite people in the fight for reproductive justice in the United States. The book is entirely interactive, galvanizing the reader to take action in many ways, like turning pages into protest posters, hearing audio testimonials from our martyrs, and scanning the interactive map to find where safe, legal abortions can be accessed in the US. We also printed our core tenets on indestructible pages to represent how durable and timeless our beliefs are, and how together we will be unrelenting in the pursuit for reproductive freedom.

More than 160 books distributed to politicians, influences, pro-choice institutions and museums. Our more than 9 thousand members have already helped dozens of women get safe abortions through the Brigid Alliance, hundreds getting mental health support after an abortion through Exhale Pro Voice, and legal support through the Center for Reproductive Rights

The pro-life argument is often used by those who oppose abortion and state that life begins at conception. While this decision often reflects the personal and religious beliefs of some, the majority of Americans have been disregarded in its outcome. But just as one belief system helped take away individuals' most fundamental freedoms, could we form another one specifically created to protect them?

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution can be used to protect abortion rights on the basis of religion, free from government interference if the religion in question incorporates the right to choose as part of their belief system.

The Congregation was built on a simple idea: that individuals who share the same beliefs have the freedom to come together, no matter where they are, to practice those beliefs. And those beliefs, like those of any other organized system of faith, should be protected and practiced freely.