Help understanding UCC position on abortion

[lauraviv]

I am a UCC member and am struggling to understand the church's position on abortion. Here is a link to the article I read from the UCC website: http://www.ucc.org/justice/advocacy...d-justice/reproductive-health-and-justice.pdf

I just really don't get it how this is consistent with the bible, the teachings of Jesus, etc.

My heart goes out to women that have had or are considering an abortion. I would never suppose to have walked in the shoes of any woman who has been through this. I think we need to find ways to talk about abortion that do not condemn or judge women while at the same time advocating for the sanctity of human life.

I am trying to be open and understanding, but I really can't understand the UCC official position on this as a religious group. Any help?

 

[Anessa14]

Laura-
in what way do you find it inconsistent with the Bible?

Ifind their statement quite refreshing; it neither condemns the woman nor judges her for following her own conscience.

A

 

[lauraviv]

My first intent is not to condemn women. Only God has the authority to judge what is in a person's heart and to whom He extends His grace. I think there has to be a way to say that the act of abortion is in-congruent with the God's word without condemning women who have or are considering abortion.

God cares for all of His creation to such an extent that not even a sparrow falls to earth without God's notice, and we are so important that every hair on our head is numbered (from Matthew 10:29).

I think Ecclesiates 11:5 is interesting since, even with the explosion of medical technology, we have not been able to settle the debate on when life begins:

As thou knowest not what
[is] the way of the spirit,
[nor] how the bones [do
grow] in the womb of her
that is with child: even so
thou knowest not the works
of God who maketh all.

Psalm 139:13-16:

13 For it was You who created my inward parts;[a]
You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You
because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made.[b][c]
Your works are wonderful,
and I know this very well.
15 My bones were not hidden from You
when I was made in secret,
when I was formed in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw me when I was formless;
all my days were written in Your book and planned
before a single one of them began.

Jesus taught that the most important commandments of God is love. I think God's infinite loves applies equally to the woman and her unborn child. Equal love for both brings us to an uncomfortable impasse as neither one has a greater claim to life than the other. We don't like to be in uncomfortable places, where we can often find ourselves in the shadow of the cross, and so we seek to use logic, reason, and intellectual knowledge to explain our way out.

 

[CMatt25]

I'm not a UCC member but I really don't have difficulty understanding the position. UCC states it is not pro abortion. I find though some Christians confuse being pro choice with pro abortion. UCC simply seems though to recognize in a nation of plural beliefs that civil law may need to allow women access to safe and legal abortion, allowing her the right to follow the dictates of her own faith and beliefs. UCC seems to rightly state there are many religious and theological perspectives on when life and personhood begin.

I know in the OT there is a discussion on the fetus and the mother being harmed, and the penalty as I recall was greater in the case of loss of the mother.

Also the sanctity of life includes the life of the mother. There are Christians who oppose choice and legal abortion even in cases of rape, incest and to protect the life of the mother. Yet the sanctity of life includes the effects such pregnancies may have on the woman's life and the lives of her families.

It is truly a difficult subject though. Unlike perhaps none other. The rights of the unborn and the rights of women do not always balance easily. And it is not one with easy answers. Which in the end may be all the more reason though why the UCC could essentially be correct to leave it more or less as a personal choice for the woman. Following consultation with her dr, her family, guidance from her pastor or other spiritual guide, and last but not least contemplation following prayer to God. Peace.