PNS Abortion Issue Backgrounder

Presbyterians Pro-Life
June 15, 2004

The following statement was submitted by Terry Schlossberg to PresbyWeb on June 15 for publication:

Presbyterian News Service (PNS) appears to have scant files on the abortion history of the Presbyterian Church. Their recent correction needs further correction.

On June 10, PNS issued a "correction" of its "backgrounder" on abortion. They had incorrectly reported, they said, that "Presbyterian Church (USA) abortion policy dates back to 1983 and that early church policy on abortion supported a woman's right to choose 'with virtually no reservations.'" Their correction was to inform Presbyterians that the "predecessor denominations both first adopted policy statements on abortion in 1970." This is badly misleading.

The history of the Presbyterian Church did not begin in 1970. Neither did the voice of General Assemblies on abortion. Prior to the church's capitulation to the sexual revolution--even well into the 1960s--the Presbyterian Church expressed strong opposition to abortion. That history actually extends back as far as the Presbyterian Church goes--to the Reformation itself and John Calvin's condemnation of abortion in his commentary on Exodus 21.

This greatly neglected history includes statements from the General Assembly of 1869: "This Assembly regards the destruction by parents of their own offspring, before birth, with abhorrence, as a crime against God and against nature...." That Assembly used the word "murder" in reference to abortion.

The General Assembly of 1965 reaffirmed a statement by a G.A.in 1962: "The fetus is a human life to be protected by the criminal law from the moment when the ovum is fertilized...."

The 1970s represented a reversal of the history of this denomination and its connection with Christendom from the beginning. The reversal took place without any serious challenge to the theology that undergirded a defense of innocent human life. Presbyterians Pro-Life gives witness to the Church's long history on this matter, well-grounded in Scripture and supported by our Confessions.

It is disingenuous to speak of the Presbyterian Church's long history of being pro-choice on abortion. It is a very short history, and we believe that Presbyterians are increasingly coming to see that both women and babies benefit from a commitment to preserve and care for each human life.

I appeal to PNS for truth-telling. Give Presbyterians all the background in your backgrounders.

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