Which U.S. churches accept legal abortion?

Which U.S. churches accept legal abortion? September 3, 2015

EVA’S QUESTION:

Are there any Christian denominations that accept the legality of abortion?

THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER:

Yes.  To make things manageable the following discusses only Christianity in the U.S. in the era of the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision to legalize abortion nationwide. Although some predominantly white “mainline” Protestant churches are officially neutral or opposed, five major denominations of this type provide significant support for abortion choice in various situations. Representative policy statements:

Episcopal Church:  The 1976 General Convention opposed abortions “for convenience” but found them “permissible” in cases of rape, incest, serious threat to the mother’s “physical or mental health,” or “substantial reason to believe that the child would be born badly deformed in mind or body.” The policy opposed civil laws that would limit or deny the right to “reach informed decisions in this matter and to act upon them.” Archived Episcopal texts: http://www.episcopalarchives.org/cgi-bin/acts/acts_search.pl.

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: Three denominations united to form the E.L.C.A. in 1988, and the 1991 Churchwide Assembly issued an abortion policy while acknowledging members’ “potentially divisive” and “serious differences” on this. The statement opposed absolutism on the rights of either the mother or of the “developing life in the womb.” It encouraged women not to abort “in most circumstances.” But until the fetus is able to live outside the womb, abortion could be licit with rape, incest, a “clear threat to the physical life” of the mother, or “extreme fetal abnormality.” The policy opposed flat prohibitions in civil law, and endorsed the provision of “safe and affordable services” when abortions are “morally justifiable.” See http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/AbortionSS.pdf.

Presbyterian Church (USA):  This denomination was formed in 1982 by a two-way merger. Its 1992 General Assembly adopted a committee report that affirmed women’s “ability and responsibility . . . guided by the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit” to “make good moral choices.” Despite the “strong Christian presumption” to protect “all life,” abortion could be the “least objectionable of difficult options” and “morally justified” though not required as a “last resort.” The policy opposed abortion for mere “convenience” or birth control. “Possible justifying circumstances” included rape, incest, “severe physical or mental deformity,” or when the “physical or mental health” of the mother or child is “gravely threatened.” The assembly acknowledged believers’ “diversity of opinion” on legalization, but opposed criminal penalties against mothers who abort as well as limits on access or funding for the disadvantaged. See: https://www.pcusa.org/site_media/media/uploads/oga/pdf/problem-pregnancies.pdf. A 2006 statement specified that “viable unborn babies” should not be aborted, though the mother’s “life and health” should also be protected.

United Church of Christ:  The 1971 General Synod said increasing numbers of people saw mere “potentiality of human personhood” early in pregnancy while in “later months” abortion should occur only for “serious reasons” such as rape, incest, the mother’s “physical or mental health” or “abnormality or disease of the fetus.” The church urged members to support repeal of “all legal prohibitions of physician-performed abortions” to make them “legally available to all women.” This and later texts available via  http://www.ucc.org/justice_womens-issues_reproductive-justice.

United Methodist Church: The “Social Principles” in its Book of Discipline, as revised by the 2008 General Conference, state that “our belief in the sanctity of human life makes us reluctant to approve abortion” but “the life and well-being of the mother and the unborn child” must both be weighed. The church endorsed a “legal option” when “tragic conditions of life” may justify abortion, but not for birth control. The policy opposes “late-term” or “partial-birth” abortion unless the mother’s life is endangered or there are “severe fetal anomalies incompatible with life.” The church favored parental notification and consent with pregnant minors, government facilitation of adoption, and religious agencies to offer “feasible alternatives to abortion.” See http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/the-nurturing-community#abortion.

(The Unitarian Universalist Association, an especially ardent advocate of abortion rights, states that it draws upon many resources including “Jewish and Christian teachings” but is not regarded as a part of Christianity.)

Meanwhile, resistance from other Christians is a major reason abortion remains such a potent issue decades after the Court’s 1973 edict. In 1974, representatives of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches jointly deplored the Court’s decision and affirmed “our common Christian tradition with regard to the right of the unborn to life.” Since 1973, most conservative and “evangelical” Protestant churches have consolidated in opposition, including the largest U.S. Protestant body, the Southern Baptist Convention. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or “Mormon” church (whose “Christian” status is questioned by some) also opposes liberal laws.

African-Americans who identified as Protestants in a 2013 Pew Research poll believed abortion was morally wrong by a 58 percent majority (compared with 49 percent of the over-all population). Among the major black denominations, Internet research located only a policy from the Church of God in Christ, probably the largest such group with some 5.5 million members and 15,000 congregations. It opposed abortion “due to the Scriptures’ stand on taking innocent life, which is murder,” including “the denial of even a fetus to form into a human being.” Abortion is “tampering with what God has proclaimed as life” and “we believe only God can give life and that only God can deny life.”

 

 


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