wfn.org | Abortion Debate Heats up in Presbyterian Church

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May 30, 1996 
 
 
 
96201    Abortion Debate Heats up in Presbyterian Church 
            After President Clinton Vetoes Legislation 
 
                      by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--President Clinton's veto of the so-called "partial birth 
abortion" bill has prompted letters to the U.S. Congress from both 
pro-choice and anti-abortion Presbyterians and has rekindled the debate 
over the church's stance on abortion. 
 
     After Clinton's veto, 36 religious leaders, including six 
Presbyterians, sent a letter to members of the U.S.Congress urging that the 
veto not be overridden. 
 
     The April 29 letter -- from the Religious Coalition for Reproductive 
Choice (RCRC), of which the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is a member -- was 
followed the next day by an RCRC press conference in Washington, D.C., at 
which the Rev. Elenora Giddings Ivory, director of the Presbyterian 
Washington Office, outlined the General Assembly's policies on abortion and 
the matter of choice. 
 
     Calling "infanticide" the controversial, seldom-used (600 in 1995) 
late-term abortion procedure intact dilation and extraction,  Presbyterians 
Pro-Life has denounced Presbyterians who signed the RCRC letter, and on May 
17 six anti-abortion Presbyterian leaders joined other anti-abortion 
religious leaders in protesting the president's veto in a letter to members 
of Congress from the National Pro-Life Religious Council (NPRC). 
 
     The abortion procedure Congress wanted to ban is believed to be used 
only rarely and in cases when the mother's life is at risk or the fetus is 
severely deformed.  Anti-abortion forces refer to the procedure as "partial 
birth abortion" because it involves removing a fetus through the birth 
canal, usually feet first, which sometimes requires crushing the skull and 
suctioning out the brain. 
 
     "The reality is that its closer to infanticide than to abortion," 
Terry Schlossberg told the Presbyterian News Service.  "Even many 
pro-choice people object to intact dilation and extraction because it is so 
abhorrent and extreme," she claimed. 
 
     But Colleen Bowers, a registered pediatric nurse in Baltimore and 
co-convener of Presbyterians Affirming Reproductive Options, disputed 
Schlossberg's characterization of the controversial procedure and the 
tactics anti-abortionists employ to oppose it. 
 
     "The term  partial birth abortion' was concocted by conservative 
groups to drum up support and stir up emotions for their cause," she 
charged.  Bowers sharply criticized as inaccurate graphic depictions of the 
procedure in which the fetus is shown as a perfectly formed baby. A graphic 
furnished to the Presbyterian News Service by Schlossberg fit Bowers' 
description precisely. 
 
     "A more accurate picture," Bowers said, "of a grossly deformed fetus 
with all of its organs on the outside of its body, would stir compassion 
for the mother, which is far more appropriate than the distorted and 
hurtful reactions they [anti-abortionists] try to stir up." 
 
     The issue will come before the 208th General Assembly in Albuquerque. 
Prospect Hill Presbytery has submitted an overture calling upon the 
Assembly to go on record as opposing any abortion after the fifth month of 
pregnancy.  The overture also calls upon the Board of Pensions to exclude 
reimbursement for the procedure from the Presbyterian Church's major 
medical plan. 
 
     Excerpts from the RCRC letter to members of Congress, April 29: 
 
     "We fully support the President's action in standing with women and 
their families who face tragic, untenable pregnancies. 
     "In the case of severe fetal anomalies or threats to the life and 
health of the mother, people of faith are called to cherish the life of the 
mother and others who are affected -- the husband or partner, the children 
already living, and others -- and to have compassion for a fetus who, if 
born, would inevitably suffer or die. 
     "We are convinced that each woman who is faced with such difficult 
moral decisions must be free to decide how to respond, in consultation with 
her doctor, her family and her God.  Neither we as religious leaders, nor 
the President, nor Congress -- none of us -- can discern God's will as well 
as the woman herself, and that is where we believe the decision must 
remain. 
     "Indeed, where religious people have such profound and sincere 
differences -- even within our own denominations and faith groups -- the 
government must not legislate, and thus impose, one religious view on all 
our citizens.  To do so violates our most cherished tradition of religious 
freedom." 
 
     Presbyterians who signed the letter were the Rev. James E. Andrews, 
stated clerk of the General Assembly; Ivory; the Rev. Vernon Broyles III, 
acting director of the National Ministries Division in Louisville; and the 
Rev. Arch B. Taylor Jr., the Rev. Mary Kuhns and the Rev. Anne Hickey of 
Louisville Presbytery. 
 
     Excerpts from Elenora Giddings Ivory's press statement, April 30: 
 
     " God alone is Lord of the conscience' is a line out of the 
Westminster Confession of Faith of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) [The 
Book of Confession 6.109].  
     "Jews, Catholics and Protestants are not monolithic in their belief of 
when life begins.  At least five views are held regarding when life begins: 
conception; four various criteria developed by the Harvard Medical School; 
at  quickening'; at  viability'; and at birth. 
     "It is precisely because of these different points of view -- held in 
good conscience by people of faith -- that the state should not interfere. 
     "The root of our differences lie primarily in our theology but also in 
our polity.  Who makes decisions for the individual Christian? Should it be 
her church?  Should this power be given to Congress?  Should the state be 
permitted to step in between a woman and her understanding of her faith in 
this instance? 
     "The veto recognizes that the life of the woman is precious and that 
the woman has the right to communicate with her doctor and directly with 
her God as this painful decision is being made." 
 
     Excerpts from NPRC letter to members of Congress, May 17: 
 
     "Such abortions not only kill live babies but also are ineffective in 
protecting the life of a mother in a pregnancy involving a medical crisis. 
They do nothing to enhance a mother's health or well-being. 
     "Congressional hearings made it clear that the overwhelming number of 
such abortions have been performed for elective reasons and not for medical 
necessity.  According to testimony in the hearings, most of the children 
were healthy, viable and free of anomalies when they were aborted by this 
procedure.  The babies' deliveries were induced after turning them in a 
breech position, then stopped before delivery of the head, strictly to meet 
the legal technicality that would allow the killings to be termed an 
abortion,' which is legal, instead of  infanticide,' which is illegal. 
     "Our traditions teach the protection of the innocent from any threat 
of harm.  To truly care for women who face pregnancies which for them 
constitute a crisis (whether due to their own psychological or emotional 
condition or out of concern for the health of their unborn children) 
involves providing them with the assurance of help for their physical, 
spiritual, psychological and financial needs, as well as offering 
alternatives such as adoption. 
     "The ministries we offer are faithful to the teaching of Christ to 
love and care for our neighbors, both mother and child." 
 
     Presbyterians who signed the letter were Schlossberg; Susan Cyre, 
executive director, Presbyterians for Faith, Family and Ministry; William 
T. Devlin, director of the  Philadelphia Family Policy Council and an elder 
at New Life Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia; Donald A. Elliott, 
president of Presbyterians Pro-Life; the Rev. Benjamin Sheldon, president 
emeritus of Presbyterians Pro-Life; and the Rev. Parker T. Williamson, 
executive editor, "The Presbyterian Layman." 

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