Clergy Voices: Volume 5, Issue 2

The Morality Of Abortion

By Rev. Mark Bigelow

Ed. Note. This was adapted from the sermon that Rev. Bigelow preached at the very beautiful interfaith worship service that he, with the help of Rev. Susan N. Blue, rector of St. Margaret's Episcopal Church, Washington, DC, organized and conducted on March 24, 2000, at the PPFA annual conference in Washington, DC.

I believe that we progressive clergy must reshape the debate over abortion to focus on the moral and ethical dimensions of the decision to terminate a pregnancy. Too often we have referred to abortion as a tragic choice or a last resort when it is, in fact, a moral decision, made out of consideration for the needs of the family, the community, and the wider world in which we live.

In the struggle to establish a legal right to abortion, abortion rights activists had a strong moral position. To deny women the right to determine when and whether to have a child was clearly unjust. Once the Supreme Court legalized abortion, nationwide, it became a right, taking its place beside freedom of religion, freedom of the press and the other freedoms that we enjoy.

The problem for us, as clergy, is that the assertion of a right has no moral or ethical dimension. The language of choice is essentially a language of rights. Yet a right is morally neutral. It is the exercise of that right that raises moral and ethical considerations. Hence, the right to have an abortion is essential for women to exercise full moral agency. However, as long as clergy who support reproductive rights continue to focus on the language of rights, we can do very little to enhance understanding about the value of abortion in society. The emphasis on individual choice sounds an awful lot like another form of the preoccupation with self that many religious folk — conservative and progressive alike — decry in contemporary American society.

How do we begin to refocus the discussion? To begin, we can tell the stories of women who have had abortions. Just as the stories of illegal abortions before 1973 convinced many that abortion should be legal, so, too, the stories of women who have had abortions since then demonstrate that they have made decisions that are moral.

Take the case of Claudia Davis, a conservative Evangelical Christian, married to a seminary student, with one child. Faced with a second pregnancy and worried about the strain a second child would place on the family at a very difficult time in their lives, she elected to have an abortion. Reflecting on it later she wrote, "Children need a minimal level of quality of life. When they don't receive it, the result can be violent behavior as adults. Women who choose abortion think about what kind of life their child would have. Thus it grieves me when I hear people call us 'murderers,' especially when they assume that we made our decision lightly with no regard for human life." (See "A Pastor's Wife Faces the Truth," in Abortion: My Choice, God's Grace, ed. Anne Eggebroten, New Paradigm Books, Pasadena CA, 1994, p. 78.)

You know and I know that abortion is a carefully considered act that usually involves many concerns: for children who are already at home, for parents who would need to struggle as premature grandparents, for anxious husbands, for the future contribution that a promising young woman may make, and for the obscene environmental problems associated with population growth and consumption. In short, abortion is a moral decision — an action that considers the need of the larger community — a consideration that the Judeo/Christian tradition celebrates as the highest of human values.

The Planned Parenthood mission embodies these same values. Margaret Sanger's plea that "every child should be a wanted child" is an ethical construct. Even the very name "Planned Parenthood" is an ethical precept for family and community life.

As our movement enters this new millennium, I would like to suggest that we talk more about responsible choices as moral choices. My daughters are two of the major reasons that I am committed to our movement and to Planned Parenthood. I will do all that I can to safeguard the rights they must have if they are to make responsible choices about their lives. But I pray most of all to give them the wisdom and the courage to understand that the choices that they make will affect others so that they will base their choices about every aspect of their reproductive lives on a concern for others and for the environment, as well as their own healthy development. These are the values for which we stand in Planned Parenthood, and they reflect the fundamental teachings of the Judeo/Christian moral tradition.

Rev. Mark Bigelow is the pastor of The Congregational Church of Huntington, United Church of Christ, on Long Island, NY, former board chair of Planned Parenthood Hudson/Peconic, and member, PPFA Clergy Advisory Board.

The Reverend Tom Davis Hits A Double

Below are two letters written by Rev. Tom Davis, one to the New York Times — the published version has been altered a bit — and the other to the Washington Post printed on the same day. Hats off to Tom.

New York Times

Diane Johnson (Op-Ed, Feb. 22) suggests that the chances of achieving compromise on reducing the need for abortion are small and blames "religious leaders" for having "squandered their authority and credibility on partisan politics and hypocritical moral posturing."

She proposes the "French solution," which separates public policy from religion. But that won't work in the U.S. where religion has long played a role in the "public square." This can be disastrous when some conservative religious leaders are taken as representative of all leaders and the Americans they represent — or when the leaders demand that religious teachings determine public policy.

The translation of any theology into public policy entails compromise and trial and error, together with an understanding of the value of human experience. By refusing to participate in this process, religious political extremists reduce civil discourse to the hypocritical moral posturing Ms. Johnson deplores.

Washington Post

About the controversial stem cell research guidelines ["The Politics of Embryos," editorial, Feb. 21]:

As a minister for 40 years, I have watched people brought low by the Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases that this research might cure. For the past three years, I have watched the terrible combination of these two diseases destroy the ministry and life of my wife and colleague, Betsy, who now sits mute in a nursing home.

I assume that the anti-choice groups that are intent on blocking this research never visit nursing homes to see the haunting devastation. By playing abortion politics with this issue, they've condemned a generation to die from these diseases. Such groups are as immoral as they are heartless.

The Rev. Tom Davis is Chair, PPFA Clergy Advisory Board.

Responsible Choices Update

We are also pleased to report that the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) agreed to circulate a memo from PPFA President Gloria Feldt to their membership urging them to join RCAN. We welcome RCRC's participation and value their support.

Spotlight On Affiliate Clergy

The Reverend Dr. David McFarlane

As the prime target of faith-based religious organizations that oppose reproductive freedom, Planned Parenthood is profoundly grateful to the many clergy who support our mission and programs. To recognize them, Clergy Voices is inaugurating a new series to introduce the clergy who take an active role in local Planned Parenthood affiliates by chairing or serving on affiliate boards, or by chairing or serving in affiliate clergy groups or by working as affiliate staff. To begin - the Reverend Dr. David McFarlane, a member of the board of Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania (PPWP) and senior pastor at the Presbyterian Church, Sewickly, in Pittsburgh.

Rev. McFarlane has devoted much of his long career to bringing sexuality education that is realistic, balanced, and accurate to the youth and families in his church and in the greater community.

At PPWP, he is an active member of the Education Committee. He has been working with Brenda Green, the affiliate vice president for education, to bring together, later this year, local clergy of different faiths and diverse cultural traditions for a day's discussion of human sexuality and the need to treat the topic in ways that are meaningful and relevant for our young people. As Rev. McFarlane says, "Despite the increase in the amount and the availability of information in recent years, young people still ask the same kinds of questions, and they still seek help from the adults — including members of the clergy — who are significant in their lives."

Rev. McFarlane believes that sexuality education for our youth must include instruction about gender differences vis-à-vis sexuality and the reasons for those differences.He urges a greater effort to understand male sexuality so that young boys can get the help they need to make responsible choices."When young people understand the source and the nature of their sexual drives," he says, "they are less likely to make bad decisions about how to be sexual together."

Rev. McFarlane's support for the Planned Parenthood mission and its programs dates back to his first post after graduation from the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, where he earned a Masters of Divinity degree — he also holds a Doctor of Ministry degree from that institution.

As a minister in Pittsford, NY, just outside of Rochester, a community where two Roman Catholic colleges are dominant institutions, he found himself counseling young women struggling with decisions about unintended pregnancies, including the possibility of abortion. In the days before Roe v. Wade, he and his wife joined an interfaith group that operated along the same lines as the Clergy Consultative services on abortion (see Clergy Voices, January 1998.)

His experience counseling young people about abortion and other reproductive health issues convinced Rev. McFarlane that the church should take a significant role in providing information about human sexuality.Together with a colleague, he developed a series of conversations on pregnancy prevention for college students. A search for educational materials brought him to his local Planned Parenthood affiliate and a life-long commitment to Planned Parenthood. In addition to PPWP, he has served on the board of the Rochester affiliate and the Clergy Advisory Board of the Buffalo affiliate. In other words, wherever his ministry took him, he sought out the local Planned Parenthood affiliate.

Rev. McFarlane is an invaluable asset to the Planned Parenthood family. Fortunately, he is not unique, at least in this regard. Planned Parenthood is blessed with many clergy who work tirelessly in support of local affiliates. As we acknowledge Rev. McFarlane's long and distinguished career, we salute all of them.

More Than Prayer

Planned Parenthood of the Susquehanna Valley (PPSV) in Pennsylvania held its commemoration of the 27^th anniversary of Roe v. Wade at the St. Peter's United Church of Christ in Lancaster on Sunday, January 23. The service took place not far from the PPSV clinic that has been trying to offer abortion services for more than 18 months. Lancaster County, PA, is just one of the 94 percent of all U.S. counties where women are unable to obtain abortions. PPSV wanted to change all that so that local women would finally be able to obtain abortions without traveling long distances in a state that has waiting periods, state-directed counseling designed to discourage abortion, parental consent requirements, and no financial aid for a poor woman seeking abortion unless her life is danger or she is the victim of rape or incest. Unfortunately, intense opposition from local and national anti-choice groups has stalled the opening of the PPSV clinic.

It was the very intensity of the opposition to the proposed clinic that inspired Rev. Susan Minasian to help PPSV organize the worship service at St. Peter's and to call it "Freedom of Religion: Freedom of Choice." Rev. Minasian is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ who also serves PPSV as a clinic escort. In her remarks to the more than 100 people who gathered at the church, she declared, "God created me as a woman with a brain and a heart to make moral decisions." She praised Planned Parenthood for the loving care they provide to the community. Then she challenged the audience by telling them, "It isn't enough . . . to be pro-choice. You have to defend [the right to choose] as if your life depended on it."

Rabbi Jack Paskoff, a board member of PPSV, also participated in the service. He began by criticizing the opposition for claiming to be pro-life "when patients at Planned Parenthood must receive treatment behind bulletproof glass." Then he lambasted the press for their biased coverage of the clinic issue. Finally, he berated the local hospitals for failing to renew their agreements to treat Planned Parenthood patients in case of emergency, although such agreements had been in place before PPSV geared up to provide abortion services and would be required by the state before the clinic could obtain the required state certification. In response to the rhetoric at the Lancaster United for Life rally that took place the day before the service, he concluded his remarks by saying, "If I go to the hell imaged for me by those who oppose abortion, it will be because I failed to voice my beliefs." He is in no danger of that.

Pro-Choice Clergy In Springfield, IL, Debut On TV

Thanks to the local community access channel, Planned Parenthood of the Springfield Area (PPSA) can now carry its message to a wider audience. In recent months, affiliate staff have discussed sexuality education, AIDS/HIV, contraception, and medical services. In February and March, PPSA's clergy committee took to the airways. Committee Chair, Rev. Walter Carlson moderated the panel of three other clergy and the legislative assistant for the Illinois Family Planning Council, Brigid Leahy, who represents all the Illinois Planned Parenthood affiliates at the state capital in Springfield.

In the February program, when the panel discussed faith and reproductive, Rev. Carlson asked the panel members to explain their commitment to the Planned Parenthood mission and programs.

Rev. Donald Colman, co-president of the Illinois Religious Coalition for Choice in Chicago, recalled his days as a campus minister in Lubbock, TX, in the late 60s when he helped young women obtain safe, albeit illegal, abortions in other states. That experience convinced him that the decision to choose abortion was not made easily or lightly and that women deserved support for their choices, whether for adoption, parenthood, or abortion.

For Rev. Janet Eggleston, member of the PPSA board, the commitment to Planned Parenthood grew out her compassion for women and especially for those who do not always make the right choices. Rabbi Barry Marks, another member of the clergy committee, expressed his concern for preserving the gains that women have made and ensuring that comprehensive sexuality education is available. As he put it, young people need guidance. Teaching them to "just so no" will not provide them with the information they need to make responsible choices.

In the March program devoted to religion and politics, the clergy began by wrestling with the problem of compelling Catholic hospitals to provide rape victims with emergency contraception (EC), large-dose birth control pills that greatly reduce the risk of becoming pregnant if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex. Rev. Eggleston pointed out the unfortunate conflict between religious conviction and the rights of the community when there is only one hospital and it refuses to provide EC or other selected reproductive health services.

The panel distinguished between the separation of church and state and their right, as citizens whose values are shaped by their faiths, to express their views on public policy. "In fact," Rev. Eggleston said, "my faith would have no meaning if it did not influence my views."The panel members stated that religious teachings have much to contribute to political debate, but they feared legislation or regulation that reflected the theology of any one religious faith. Or as Rabbi Marks neatly summed it up — "a view, not a veto."

Nebraska Clergy Support Fetal Tissue Research

Revs. Lauren D. Ekdahl and Winston Baldwin certainly participated in the public debate when they stood up to express their views on the controversy over the research that involved the use of fetal tissue at the University of Nebraska Medical School in Omaha. (See also the letter to the Washington Post from Rev. Tom Davis on this subject, p. 8.)

Rev. Ekdahl, a board member of Planned Parenthood of Lincoln and a long-time activist, addressed the university's Board of Regents last December as they were deliberating the continuation of such research. (They voted unanimously to continue.) In a passionate plea, he chastised the opposition for failing to see "scientific discovery as a gift from God to be used for the benefit of humanity." He pointed out the real issue was not the use of fetal tissue, but the larger question of religious freedom in a democratic society with many different religious traditions. In a concluding note, Rev. Ekdahl observed that there is more to "life" than getting born and that therefore he would brand the opposition not "pro-life," but "pro-birth."

A new member of the PPFA Pro-Religious Network, Rev. Baldwin of Omaha, expressed his support for the Board of Regents after they had voted and in the face of continuing protests by anti-choice groups. In February, when the Judiciary Committee of the state legislature was considering a bill to outlaw the use of fetal tissue obtained from elective abortions, the university asked him to testify. Representing a group of 10 Omaha clergy from five denominations, and echoing Rev. Ekdahl, he spoke eloquently about the dangers to our freedom of imposing a single religious doctrine on our diverse community. He concluded, "Failure to use the aborted fetal tissue for research that enhances life is socially irresponsible."

The sponsor of the bill withdrew it in the face of filibuster that he lacked the votes to defeat. Rev. Baldwin expects that the bill will be introduced again next January. If it is, Nebraska clergy will be ready.

PPFA Clergy Advisory Board Members Hit The Road

Rev. Gene Mace, brand new member of the PPFA Clergy Advisory Board, board chair of Planned Parenthood Heart of Illinois, and former chair of his affiliate's clergy committee took a trip at the end of March to Planned Parenthood of Southeast Iowa to lend his support to that affiliate's efforts to begin to reach out to local clergy.

Rabbi Balfour Brickner was the keynote speaker and Rev. Mark Bigelow participated in a panel discussion when Planned Parenthood of Nassau County's (PPNC) held a seminar for clergy at the end of May. At the seminar, clergy learned about Planned Parenthood's many and diverse educational and health resources and the critical importance of clergy support if women are to continue to enjoy the right to choose.