 Board of Pensions to continue paying for partial-birth abortions By Craig M. Kibler The Layman Online Friday, May 30, 2003
Commissioners, voting by hand because of a malfunction in the electronic voting machines, supported a recommendation by the Committee on Health Issues to reject an overture (03-04) from the Presbytery of Flint River that sought to have the Board of Pensions refuse payment for "any procedure for which the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has expressed grave moral concern." The 214th General Assembly, in becoming the first mainline denomination in the nation to sanction partial-birth abortions, said that "the ending of a pregnancy after the point of fetal viability is a matter of grave moral concern to us all." The overture argued that "the church should not pay for something over which it expresses grave moral concern" unless "the claim is supplemented by a statement from the physician certifying that the procedure was necessary and an alternative procedure, which would have protected the life and health of those involved, could not be safely substituted." The committee, in urging that the overture be disapproved, acted on a recommendation from the Advocacy Committee for Women's Concerns that argued it "recognizes that grave moral concerns are deeply held by all in the church regarding Board of Pensions' coverage," but said that "it is essential that women be supported as moral agents as they make decisions in consultation with physicians, their families, the faith community, and in relationship with God." Before discussion began, Pamela Daniel, a commissioner from the Presbytery of Western North Carolina, asked, "Would it be possible to request that the discussion of abortion be courteous and not graphic in nature?" That, she said, "would not be helpful" to commissioners. Then Hugh Ward, a commissioner from the Presbytery of Flint River, which proposed the overture, spoke against the committee's recommendation. "I realize that the issue of abortion is quite controversial in the church," but said he was thankful that commissioners were "willing to hear continuing discussion on this issue that is so important to many people." The Presbytery of Flint River "only addressed this issue because previous assemblies addressed these issues of grave moral concern," he said. The "overture only asks that the Board of Pensions not pay for late-term abortions." Others also spoke strongly against the committee's recommendation, but only members of the committee, when making their recommendation and in answering questions, spoke in favor. David Morelli, a commissioner from the Presbytery of The Cascades, asked if a member of the Committee on Health Issues could clarify why the committee recommended that the overture be disapproved. Susan Anderson, a commissioner from the Presbytery of Arkansas and vice moderator of the committee, said, "In recommending disapproval of the overture, the committee expresses that post-viability abortions are of grave moral concern. These are best determined by the woman and her family after prayerful consideration, consultation with her physician and counsel with her pastor." Dale Hunt, a commissioner from the Presbytery of Miami, argued against that position. "I've been tracking the bills in the U.S. Congress," he said, adding that the Senate has voted to ban late-term abortions. "Senate Bill 3 bans late-term abortions," Hunt said. "Congressional findings say such procedures are never medically necessary." The legislation "has not passed the House," he said, but the "best indications are that the House leadership will put that bill on the president's desk for his signature shortly after the Memorial Day break. In all probability, the procedure will be outlawed" in this country. Francy Wattman, a Youth Advisory Delegate from the Presbytery of Eastern Oklahoma, in speaking against the recommendation, quoted from a booklet she said was distributed to every commissioner titled "Post-Viability and Late-Term Abortion:" "Humans are empowered by the spirit prayerfully to make significant moral choices, including the choice to continue or end a pregnancy. Human choices should not be made in a moral vacuum, but must be based on Scripture, faith, and Christian ethics. For any choice, we are accountable to God; however, even when we err, God offers to forgive us. "While the ending of a pregnancy after the point of fetal viability is a matter of grave moral concern to us all, it may be undertaken only in the rarest of circumstances and after prayer and pastoral care and counsel. When it is deemed necessary to end a pregnancy to protect the mother's life or health in the later months of pregnancy when the baby would be able to live outside the womb, a procedure should be chosen which gives both the mother and the child the opportunity to live." The overture, she said, "supports what our denomination stands for, and I speak in favor of it." |
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