Abortion issues deferred for study By Paula R. Kincaid The Presbyterian Layman Volume 34, Number 5 Posted July 6, 2001 LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted to refer two overtures on abortion to the Advisory Committee on Litigation and the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, because a committee is already studying the issue of abortion and will report back to the 214th assembly. Overture 01-26 asked the assembly to clarify the denomination’s position on late-term abortions and preclude funding by the Board of Pensions for the procedures. Commissioner Merrilyn Slack of Heartland Presbytery spoke in favor of clarifying the denomination’s position. She said her two siblings were aborted and she was also marked for abortion. “I have lived with my family’s guilt over this. … I believe it is time for the church to discuss this from the grassroots up.” Overture 01-47 asked the assembly to express moral opposition to the abortion of babies of 20-weeks gestation and older except to preserve the life of the mother. The assembly voted to disapprove Overture 01-48 asking the Board of Pensions to insert in the medical benefits plan a provision requiring advance notification of one parent of an abortion by a minor dependent daughter. A minority report on the issue was voted down by the commissioners. It asked the assembly to create a task force of ten people to develop a comprehensive church policy statement on abortion related issues, since it has been 11 years since the adoption of the previous policy and significant developments have been made in the field of medicine, especially as it relates to abortion procedures and fetal intervention.

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