That proposed change would have eliminated language in the current policy, approved last year, which states that Presbyterians should only consider late-term abortions when there’s “a serious risk to the woman’s health, to avoid fetal suffering as a result of untreatable life-threatening medical anomalies, or in cases of incest and rape.”
The Assembly also voted not to approve an overture from Baltimore Presbytery that would urge the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to make emergency contraception available over the counter, without a prescription from a doctor.
The proposed change in the late-term abortion policy, which the General Assembly defeated by just four votes — the count was 260-256 — came because some commissioners wanted to have stronger language regarding pregnancies where the baby, if born alive, could possibly survive outside the womb.
Instead, the Assembly, in response to an overture from Charlotte Presbytery, voted to send a pastoral letter to congregations that would include copies of pamphlets the church already has made available regarding problem pregnancies and pregnancy loss.
The debate reflected some familiar themes — that the PC(USA) has historically favored a woman’s right to choose regarding abortion; that for many Presbyterians this is a theological as well as a political question; and that abortion is for many an intensely personal matter.
People came to the microphones and told stories from their experience — former General Assembly Patricia Brown of the difficulty of raising a child with profound disabilities; a commissioner of the painful decision of a couple she knew to end a pregnancy because of a rare genetic disorder; a youth advisory delegate of the love of God he’s seen evidenced by a young man with mental retardation whom he tutored.
On the one side: “God’s word said that He knit each baby in the womb and each baby was fearfully and wonderfully made,” said Allison Glaspey, a youth advisory delegate from San Joaquin Presbytery.
On the other: the PC(USA) teaches that God alone is Lord of the conscience, said Dick Berry, an elder from San Diego Presbytery. “It is inappropriate for the church to make imperative directives concerning matters of conscience.”
And some people said late-term abortion likely will keep coming up before Presbyterians because the medical view of when a fetus becomes viable is changing as well. After the vote, one commissioner suggested that the close vote shouldn’t be seen as a sign of terrible division in the PC(USA), but that “the question was stated right on the edge of the knife, and that’s exactly where it should be.”
Regarding emergency contraception — the so-called “morning-after” pill — a proposal to urge that it be made available over-the-counter failed by a vote of 315-190. Some commissioners expressed concern that not enough research has been done regarding the safety of the pill for adolescent girls, and said women who want emergency contraception can get a prescription for it by going to see a doctor. Margaret Moore, an elder from Atlanta, said of the FDA: “They shouldn’t tell us how to worship our Lord and we shouldn’t tell them how to practice medicine.”
Passing the overture might also be seen by some as telling young people: “Have unprotected sex, it’s OK, we have something for you,” said Jean Summerfield, an elder from West Virginia. “This is a distressing message when we live in a culture where sexually transmitted disease is on the rise.”
But other commissioners spoke of the reality that some women and young girls will have sex when they don’t plan to — and that making emergency contraception available over-the-counter would mean that some women would have access to it who wouldn’t if they had to get a prescription.
The Bible speaks of a disciple who said he’d rather die than deny Jesus, “then one Friday night he did what he never imagined he would do,” said Don Stribling, a minister from Palo Duro Presbytery. “Three days later, grace was extended to him and he became the rock of the church.”
Likewise, sometimes women who never intended to have sex might find that “one night things get out of control and they do what they never imagined they would do” — and grace should be extended to them too, Stribling said.
Making emergency contraception available over-the-counter “is an issue of economic justice,” said Lynette Delbridge, an ecumenical advisory delegate from the Moravian church. “Women who have access to health care, who have access to a family physician and who can afford a doctor’s visit may find it much easier to get emergency contraception.”
But some women can’t afford both a $100 doctor’s visit and $40 for the morning-after pill, Delbridge said. Making it available over-the-counter would “put all women on an equal footing,” she said.
