Abortion: The UMC is ‘Falling Short’

By Steve Beard

March/April 1990

As thousands of marchers descended upon the Mall to protest the 17th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, pro-life clergy and laypeople met together for a worship service in the chapel of the UM Building across the street from the Supreme Court Building on Capitol Hill. The January 22 meeting was sponsored by the Taskforce of United Methodists on Abortion and Sexuality( TUMAS)a, church-wide, national, pro-life organization.

In his message the Rev. Paul Crikelair of Elverson, Pennsylvania, told worshipers that the UM Church is in “desperate need” of a “new vision” on abortion. Citing biblical passages from the Psalms, Isaiah and Exodus, Crikelair spoke of God’s vision for creation, His faithfulness and His protection of the innocent.

“All human life is worthy of protection. All humanity is created in the image of God,” he said. “What a calling! What a challenge! What an opportunity! What an invitation to the United Methodist Church!”

Crikelair referred to the unborn as “the most vulnerable, the most defenseless, the most victimized, the most precious of all the segments of humanity” and described abortion as a death “that is uglier, that is more violent, more despicable than any other form of death man has ever invented.”

The crowd of nearly 4O was a welcome sight to taskforce director Steven Paul Wissler of Ephrata, Pennsylvania.” For years many of the concerned evangelicals who had a pro-life concern read the handwriting and simply left the denomination, feeling they couldn’t make any constructive effort,” he says. But now, Wissler notes, TUMAS is committed to getting the UM Church into abortion-prevention ministries that promote “the adoption option instead of the death option, abortion.”

First of all Wissler wants to see UM Church school materials reflect the church’s teaching on the “sanctity of unborn human life.” By not translating that teaching to UM youth, he believes that the church is “falling short on the witness scene to people who will be in positions to make critical values.”

Secondly he thinks that the church should do more to publicize the 15 UM homes and facilities for unwed mothers: “To our knowledge, up until we took the survey last year these things have been in obscurity. The pro-choice political emphasis has obscured this ministry. We want to bring that to the front burner and do all we can to make it known to pastors.”

Thirdly he wants TUMAS to help pastors find the theological and pastoral emphasis in the pro-life message so that they can teach and preach without feeling like a “stigmatized, pro-life extremist.”

“It’s written into our Discipline that we cannot affirm birth-control abortion, and we utterly reject gender-selection abortion. That’s something on the books, explicitly. And you look around and we are not having the whole-hearted response.”

Wissler sees his mission, and that of TUMAS, as “simply bringing our denomination up to the speed of the rich theological, life-saving, redemptive ministry that should have been the church’s all along had it not been obscured by pro-choice politics.”

Until the formation of TUMAS, the UM Church was the only mainline denomination without a nationwide prolife organization. The grassroots organization plans to establish TUMAS chapters in the West Michigan, Western Pennsylvania, North Carolina, East Ohio, and Holston Annual Conferences. Presently the two-year-old, unofficial network has a mailing list of 2,500 for its newsletter, Lifewatch.

Last year while the taskforce held its eucharistic service the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights ( RCAR), whose offices are located in the UM Building, held a press conference to reiterate its support for abortion rights. This year instead of holding a news conference RCAR released a statement in which executive director Patricia Tyson claimed that the “fundamental right to abortion and religious liberty is under greater threat than ever before.” She went on to say, “The members of RCAR deplore the insidious chipping away at abortion rights that has been taking place over the past 17 years.”

Tyson’s statement denied the validity of “anti-choice rhetoric” directed toward gender-selection and birth control abortions.” The recent attempts by anti-choice legislators to ban abortions as il method of birth control,” said Tyson, “is absurd and unfounded.”

RCAR’s statement also declared,” The religious community will not stand idly by and allow the anti-choice movement or state legislators to decide whether or not women have the right to abortion.” The UM Board of Church and Society and the Women’s Division of the Board of Global Ministries are listed as members of RCAR.

– Steve Beard