wfn.org | Conference Differs on Abortion

[owner-umethnews@ecunet.org]

"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3162 notes).

Note 3159 by UMNS on Sept. 10, 1996 at 16:20 Eastern (3572 characters).

SEARCH:   abortion, partial-birth, ban, veto, Pennsylvania, Yorks
Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

Contact:  Joretta Purdue                         445(10-71B){3159}
          Washington, D.C.  (202) 546-8722          Sept. 10, 1996

Central Pennsylvania Conference
opposes 'partial-birth abortion'

                          by Dean Snyder*

     WEIKERT, Pa. (UMNS) -- The Central Pennsylvania Annual
(regional) Conference of the United Methodist Church made plans to
communicate its support for a ban on what is being called
"partial-birth abortions" to President Clinton and members of the
U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.
     The action was taken by the conference's council on
ministries when it met here Sept. 4.
     The council was authorized by the Central Pennsylvania
Conference session in June, to respond on its behalf to a
resolution presented by the Rev. Barbara C. Yorks, associate
pastor of Baughman Memorial United Methodist Church, New
Cumberland, Pa.
     Yorks' resolution asked the conference to "voice support for
the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act (H.R. 1833) and urge President
Clinton to reconsider his veto [of the bill, and] encourage
members of the House and Senate to override his veto."
     "I know our conference includes people with differing views
on the issue of abortion, but we have united in the past when
addressing such specific issues as opposing violence at abortion
clinics and against doctors who perform abortions," said Yorks.
She had collected 800 signatures from 20 churches supporting her
resolution.
     She argued that "this late-term abortion procedure, which
suctions the brain matter of an unborn child moments before
birth," was so extreme as to warrant the conference's unified
opposition.
     The proposed ban would allow the procedure if "the partial-
birth abortion was necessary to save the life of the mother," she
said.
     A letter by Douglas Strum, a member of the conference
committee on social justice and the poor and a conference delegate
from Beaver Memorial United Methodist Church in Lewisburg, opposed
passage of Yorks' resolution.
     His letter said, "In the kinds of instances in which this
delicate (and tragic) medical procedure is employed, that we leave
the decision to the judgment of medical professionals and not try
to dictate what they may or may not do as a matter of law."
     The Rev. Thom White Wolf Fassett, general secretary of the
United Methodist Board of Church and Society, said the board
supported President Clinton's veto of the act.
     "The United Methodist Church's position is one of choice. As
an agency of the United Methodist Church, we are mandated to
support that position. I abhor abortion, but we can not support a
law that would limit a right to choose," Fassett said.
     The board's support of the president's veto has caused "a lot
of controversy," according to Fassett.
     The conference resolution supporting the ban and opposing the
president's veto will be mailed to the president and
Pennsylvania's senators and representatives.
     The Central Pennsylvania Conference includes more than 800
United Methodist congregations with 170,000 members in 27
counties.
                               # # #

     * Snyder is director of communications for the United
Methodist Church's Central Pennsylvania Annual Conference and
editor of the conference newspaper, The Link.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

 To make suggestions or give your comments, send a note to 
 umns@ecunet.org or Susan_Peek@ecunet.org

 To unsubscribe, send the single word "unsubscribe" (no quotes)
 in a mail message to umethnews-request@ecunet.org

-----------------------------------------------------------------------