Second Thoughts About Abortion

By Michael P. Harris

Liberal Protestants have long been among the most ardent supporters of a woman's right to abortion. Consider the Rev. Howard Moody of Manhattan's Judson Memorial Church. In 1967, more than five years before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down state laws that prohibited abortions, the Baptist pastor organized a referral and counseling service for women seeking the then illegal procedure. Moody was a minister in the American Baptist Convention, a confederation of congregations that was adopting its own high-profile prochoice position. In 1968 the denomination officially sanctioned abortions during the first three months of pregnancy "at the request of the individual" and during the last six months under special circumstances. Five years later, the A.B.C. became a charter member of the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights, a strongly prochoice lobbying network of religious agencies.

Last week, in an unprecedented change of heart, the American Baptist Churches (membership: 1.6 million; the name was changed in 1972) became the first Protestant denomination to abandon its eager embrace of the prochoice position. After a three-year task force study, the A.B.C.'s decision-making General Board, meeting at Green Lake, Wis., voted 161 to 9 to revise its 1981 policy statement. The former position had asserted that having an abortion should be a "responsible, personal decision." The denomination now acknowledges a "diversity of deeply held convictions" in its ranks, from the prolife view that "abortion is immoral and a destruction of a human being created in God's image," to the prochoice position that abortion "can be a morally acceptable action." But it baptizes no one view.

The change came as a result of grass-roots pressure for an abortion stance that better reflected the diverse opinions of American Baptists, who include many conservatives along with more liberal members. It is a pressure being felt by other mainline denominations, a vaguely defined group of predominantly white, moderate-to-liberal churches accounting for about 25 million of America's 75 million Protestants. "The mood is swinging toward a real serious look at a new abortion position," says Louisa Rucker, executive director of the National Organization of Episcopalians for Life.

Next month the policymaking General Convention of the Episcopal Church (2.7 million members) will consider a resolution that decries casual abortions and their high numbers, now put at 1.5 million a year, while retaining a "moral option for termination of pregnancy" in some extreme circumstances, such as rape and incest. Two weeks ago, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), with 3 million members, called for a task force to review its strong, 18-year-old prochoice position. And last May the General Conference of the 9.3 million- member United Methodist Church officially moderated the church's prochoice position. The denomination continues to recognize "tragic conflicts of life with life that may justify abortion," but it now condemns its use for "gender selection" or "birth control."

While polls show that most liberal Protestants still favor a virtually unlimited right to abortion, many are alarmed by the high count of women who exercise that right. "People in general don't want the opportunity for abortion taken away, but something has to be done when you see the numbers," says Scott Evans, a member of the Episcopal Church's executive council. In addition, Protestants have yet to provide a prochoice theology that is convincing to churchgoers.

The American Baptists have been reexamining their abortion position for some time. Complaints from members about A.B.C.'s affiliation with the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights eventually led the Baptists to withdraw from the lobby in 1986. A.B.C. leaders hope their new statement can help other denominations trying to reach the elusive compromise that will appease both sides. "They said it couldn't be done; it would blow us out of the water," says Gloria Marshall, who chaired the American Baptist task force that produced the compromise. "Now it's a model for other denominations on how to work together."

Despite the Baptist retreat, Howard Moody, the pace-setting prochoice pastor, does not feel hampered by the A.B.C.'s new policy: "I know the conservatives are trying to water down the abortion stance of the mainline churches, but as long as the bottom line is the protection of the conscience of the individual woman to do what she has to do, we're in our tradition." One consequence of the changing mood within the mainline groups: it will be increasingly difficult for them to continue to play an activist role in the ever more volatile abortion debate.

With reporting by Barbara Dolan/Green Lake and Susanne Washburn/New York