The first overture of the four to be posted by the Office of the General Assembly is from Huntingdon Presbytery. It asks the General Assembly to say that

The other three overtures—from Lackawanna, Sacramento, and San Gabriel Presbyteries—make essentially the same request. Huntingdon also asks the Assembly to reaffirm its moral counsel in opposition to "partial birth" abortion, a stand the General Assembly took in 1997 when the procedure first came to the attention of the public.

The overtures seem to reflect a concern that the position on late term abortion adopted by the General Assembly last summer contained too much latitude and seemed to allow for late term abortions of viable babies under nearly any circumstance. The position that the G.A. in 2002 adopted was not requested by sessions or presbyteries. It was brought to the Assembly by two committees: the advisory committees on Litigation and on Social Witness Policy. The overtures this year clarify that the church wishes to see the termination of a pregnancy employ a procedure that allows both mother and baby an opportunity to live.

The overtures coming this year, like the short-lived statement of 1997 expressing moral opposition to "partial birth" abortions, give specificity to the church’s care for human lives as they approach birth and already could live outside the womb if delivered.

Late term abortion is a timely subject
The overtures also are timely. Concern about the use of barbaric procedures to end the lives of babies who are approaching imminent birth is widespread in our society. We are increasingly aware that babies killed by late term abortion procedures are as well developed as babies who are delivered live and go on to develop normally. Americans generally are appalled by the idea that viable babies are being sacrificed in cases where their mothers lives are more easily protected by delivery than by abortion procedures. As we point out elsewhere in this newsletter, Americans generally approve of the protection of viable babies late in pregnancy, which is the goal of these overtures.

It is important to express a moral word to the culture and our church
The legislatures of many of our States and our Congress have passed legislation outlawing the procedure that our General Assembly expressed moral opposition to in 1997. It is important for the General Assembly to give this moral guidance as a witness to the culture at large. But it is especially important to give guidance to our own leaders as they prepare to represent the church in communication with Congress and in amicus briefs to the Supreme Court.