Our Call to the Presbyterian Church
We call the Church to renew its historic and biblical stance of opposition to the destruction of innocent human life through abortion. We call the Church to renew its commitment to preserve and nurture life at every stage of development, from conception to natural death.
We call the Church to cease its approval of abortion; to withdraw funding of abortion and abortion advocacy; to remove the unlimited coverage of abortion from the Presbyterian Medical Plan; to discontinue participation in and support for the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.
We call the Church to support women in problem pregnancies in sacrificially compassionate and loving ways that allow both mother and child to live and be blessed by God. We call the Church to provide tangible help and a community of belonging for women and children in need. We call the Church to support and promote adoption and the many community pregnancy care ministries that provide alternatives to abortion.
We call the Church to hold up high standards of morality for the children in our congregations, and to nurture and support family life.
We call the Church to extend the means of grace to those involved in abortion, to lead them gently to repentance and to aid their full restoration of fellowship with their heavenly Father and with the body of Christ, the Church.
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The PCUSA Board of Pensions recently released their 2012 Annual Report. On the very last page is the Relief of Conscience (ROC) Plan Report Facts. This annual ROC report is required by an action of the PCUSA General Assembly in 2008. Three items in the report raise concern for pro-life members of the PCUSA.
I was having a conversation with a group of friends this week while at a lunch meeting and the discussion turned to the topic of abortion. One of my table mates quoted the staggering number of abortions that have been performed in the United States since Roe v. Wade was passed in 1973. Another table mate asked if anyone had read the book, Freakonomics. None of us had. So my friend explained that in this book the author stated that until the early 1990's the rate of crime in the United States had been steadily increasing but then it leveled off and then started to decline. The premise of the book is that now is when all of those aborted babies would be in their late teens and early twenties. Therefore the authors correlate that Roe V Wade was responsible for lowering the crime rate.
In a previous article, Dr. Martha Leatherman and I wrote about helping people who have terminal illnesses. Love, care, and support for those at the end of life can be a powerful witness to Jesus Christ. It can be a powerful witness against assisted suicide and euthanasia. Equally important is love, care, and support for those with chronic illnesses. Chronic illnesses include asthma, Crohn's disease, fibromyalgia, muscular dystrophy, and many others. These are long-lasting and ever present in the person who has them. Living with these conditions can lead to depression and hopelessness. The musician Kurt Cobain took his own life. It was reported that he had Crohn's disease, and was tired of living with it. We can only speculate if things would have been different if he had a Christian friend who cared for him.
Some would say the answer to this question depends on the circumstances of the woman—her emotional and material resources, her health, her readiness to parent, and even the health of the child. That raises another question: What is the source of wisdom in decision-making for today’s Christian?
