Total Number of Pages:  2
Suggested Title: Reform Unlimited Support for Abortion
Discipline Paragraph or Resolution Number: Resolution #2025: Responsible Parenthood
General Church Budget Implications: None 
Global Implications: Yes

Amend Resolution #2025: Responsible Parenthood by DELETING the words “mental, and emotional health,” SUBSTITUTING the word “life,” DELETING the words “and her family show,” and SUBSTITUTING the word “shows” in the first sentence of the fourth paragraph, and DELETING the words “or health” from the third sentence of the fifth paragraph.  

Resolution #2025: Responsible Parenthood would then read as follows:
	“We affirm the principle of responsible parenthood…
	“Each couple has the right …
	“To support the sacred dimensions of personhood …
	“When an unacceptable pregnancy occurs, we believe that a profound regard for unborn human life must be weighed alongside an equally profound regard for fully developed personhood, particularly when the physical, mental, and emotional health life of the pregnant woman and her family show shows reason to be seriously threatened by the new life just forming. We reject the simplistic answers to the problem of abortion that, on the one hand, regard all abortions as murders, or, on the other hand, regard abortions as medical procedures without moral significance.
	“When an unacceptable pregnancy occurs, a family—and most of all, the pregnant woman—is confronted with the need to make a difficult decision. When a pregnancy occurs that appears to cause the parent or parents hardship, we in the church should bring all our resources of compassion and support to their aid, including prayer and encouragement. We believe that continuance of a pregnancy that endangers the life or health of the mother, or poses other serious problems concerning the life, health, or mental capability of the child to be, is not a moral necessity. In such cases, we believe the path of mature Christian judgment may indicate the advisability of abortion. We support the legal right to abortion as established by the 1973 Supreme Court decision. We encourage women in counsel with husbands, doctors, and pastors to make their own responsible decisions concerning the personal and moral questions surrounding the issue of abortion (see ¶ 161J).
	“We therefore encourage our churches and common society to …

RATIONALE:
The current wording is broad and vague enough to, in the name of all of United Methodism, morally endorse abortion for any reason at all, in contradiction to historic Christian teaching, the balanced position in Paragraph 161 J of our Social Principles, and biblical principles about caring for the vulnerable.  

Date:  
Name of the Petitioner:  
Identification of the Petitioner: Member of ____ UMC (City, State)
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