wfn.org | Pensions and Benefits Committee rejects non-abortion plan proposals

[PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org]

01-July-1996 
 
GA96040 
 
 
    Pensions and Benefits Committee rejects non-abortion medical plan 
proposals 
 
 
ALBUQUERQUE--The Assembly committee on Pensions and Benefits has rejected 
overtures from the presbyteries of Shenango and Cincinnati that would 
require the Board of Pensions to establish separate medical plans that 
would not pay for abortions. 
 
    By a vote of 33 to 1 with one abstention, the committee on July 30 
recommended that the General Assembly "disapprove" the two overtures, but 
with comments asking the Board of Pensions to continue its study of its 
"relief of conscience" provisions which segregate the dues of employers who 
conscientiously oppose abortion from the general fund of the major medical 
plan.  The board's major medical plan currently funds abortions. 
 
    When the board announced its new "relief of conscience" provisions in 
January of this year, it said it would continue to study issues raised by 
pro-life groups for two years and make adjustments accordingly. 
 
    Polly Duncan, the overture advocate from Shenango Presbytery, said she 
was "grateful that the Board of Pensions has tried to address pro-life 
concerns," but that relief of conscience "is not a satisfactory 
solution...to the unbearable burden of having to participate in a [major 
medical] plan that unrestrictedly funds abortion." 
 
    Noting that only 190 employing organizations (out of 12,000 total 
employers in the major medical plan) are currently enrolled in the "relief 
of conscience" program, Board of Pensions officials argued that setting up 
a separate plan for those employers would be prohibitively expensive.  The 
board's corporate secretary, the Rev. George Adams, said the board will 
continue to be in dialogue with pro-life groups to try and improve the 
"relief of conscience" program to their satisfaction. 
 
 
Jerry Van Marter 

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