This social teaching statement was adopted by a more
than two-thirds majority vote at the second biennial Churchwide
Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, meeting in
Orlando, Florida, August 28 - September 4, 1991.
I. OUR UNITY AND DIVERSITY IN
CHRIST
A. The Basis of Our Unity
We in the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America are united with all human
beings and the whole creation because God has created us and all
that exists.
We are united in Christ with all Christians in the one, holy,
catholic, and apostolic Church.
As Lutherans we are united in our confession that we are
justified by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. We believe that
the Bible is the authoritative source and norm for Christian faith
and life.
B. The Gift of Our Diversity
Because we are united in Christ through faith, we have both the
freedom and the obligation to engage in serious deliberation on
moral matters.
Induced abortion, the act of intentionally terminating a
developing life in the womb, is one of the issues about which
members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America have serious
differences. These differences are also found within society.
Differences hold promise or peril. Our differences are deep and
potentially divisive. However, they are also a gift that can lead
us into constructive conversation about our faith and its
implications for our life in the world.
C. Talking about Our Differences
The topic of abortion evokes strong and varied convictions about
the social order, the roles of women and men, human life and human
responsibility, freedom and limits, sexual morality, and the
significance of children in our lives. It involves powerful
feelings that are based on different life experiences and
interpretations of Christian faith and life in the world. If we are
to take our differences seriously, we must learn how to talk about
them in ways that do justice to our diversity.
The language used in discussing abortion should ignore neither
the value of unborn life nor the value of the woman and her other
relationships. It should neither obscure the moral seriousness of
the decision faced by the woman nor hide the moral value of the
newly conceived life. Nor is it helpful to use the language of
"rights" in absolute ways that imply that no other significant
moral claims intrude. A developing life in the womb does not have
an absolute right to be born, nor does a pregnant woman have an
absolute right to terminate a pregnancy. The concern for both the
life of the woman and the developing life in her womb expresses a
common commitment to life. This requires that we move beyond the
usual "pro-life" versus "pro-choice" language in discussing
abortion.
II. CONVICTIONS OF OUR FAITH
Some basic faith convictions undergird our judgments on
abortion:
-
Human beings, created in God's image as male and female (Genesis
1:27-28), are persons of intrinsic value and dignity. Human beings
live in community, with responsibility and accountability to God,
self, and others. Women, faced with unintended pregnancies, are
called to be good stewards of life by making responsible decisions
in light of these relationships. Women and men share equally in the
responsibility and accountability for procreation, although it is
women who are most intimately affected by decisions about
abortion.
-
All of life is a mysterious, awesome gift of God. Biblical
passages express the God-given mystery of creation (Psalm 139;
Jeremiah 1:5; Isaiah 40:26ff; Luke 1:41; Acts 17:24-25). God
creates life, redeems it through Jesus Christ, and fulfills it in
the coming of the reign of God. Personal human life is a part of
this divine drama. God creates a human being through complex
genetic, physiological, and relational developments.
2 Human life in all phases of its development is God-given and,
therefore, has intrinsic value, worth, and dignity. Guided by God's
Law, which orders and preserves life, human beings are called to
respect and care for the life that God gives.
-
What God has created has become corrupted by sin. Sin is both a
condition of alienation from God and the acts that issue from this
condition. Human judgments, actions, organizations, and practices
are marked by a distortion of God's will and purpose for life. Sin
is evident in the many ways human lives are not given equal respect
or treated with high value, but are subject to abuse, violence, and
neglect by individuals, groups, and entire societies. We are caught
up in a web of sin in which we both sin and are sinned against.
-
God calls us to repentance, renewal, and responsible living. We
have "died to sin" through our Baptism into Christ and through him
are raised to new life (Romans 6:2ff). We are forgiven and
sustained through God's grace. Our faith is to be active in love
and our freedom used for the benefit of one another. This is the
fruit of the Spirit manifest in our lives. We are to do justice,
love mercy, and walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8).
-
As a community of forgiven sinners, justified by God's grace
through faith in Jesus Christ, we are empowered so that we might do
what is effective in serving the needs of the neighbor. Inspired by
Jesus' own ministry, our love for neighbor embraces especially
those who are most vulnerable, including both the pregnant woman
and the life in her womb.
III. THE CHURCH AS
A COMMUNITY SUPPORTIVE OF LIFE
Because we believe that God is the creator of life, the number
of induced abortions is a source of deep concern to this church. We
mourn the loss of life that God has created.
[A] The strong Christian presumption is to preserve and protect
life. Abortion ought to be an option only of last resort.
Therefore, as a church we seek to reduce the need to turn to
abortion as the answer to unintended pregnancies.
[B]
We also deplore the circumstances that lead a woman to consider
abortion as the best option available to her. We are moved
particularly by the anguish of women who face unwanted pregnancies
alone. The panic and isolation of such pregnancies, even in the
best of circumstances, can be traumatic. Poverty, lack of
supportive relationships, immaturity, oppressive social realities,
sexism, and racism can intensify her sense of powerlessness. The
prospect of having and caring for a child can seem
overwhelming.
We confess our sin as a community of faith.
[C] We often have fallen short in respecting God's gift of life
and in providing conditions more conducive for bringing new life
into the world.
As a community of faith we seek to live out our support for life
in all its dimensions. We are committed to supporting those who
face problematic pregnancies in ways that effectively address their
immediate as well as long-term needs. This can include financial,
nutritional, medical, educational, social, and psychological, as
well as spiritual support.
Our ministry of hospitality to all people ought to include women
who have had abortions, women who are considering abortions,
children, families, and those who bear and raise children under all
kinds of circumstances. This should be reflected throughout
congregational life and church policy. Congregations are encouraged
to support day-care centers and nurseries in their facilities.
Services and shelter should be provided, especially to enable young
mothers and fathers to continue their education and care for their
children. Members should also be encouraged to become foster and/or
adoptive parents. By our policies and practices as a church we need
to indicate that we are truly supportive of children through the
long years after, and not only before, they are born.
Marriage is the appropriate context for sexual intercourse. This
continues to be the position of this church. We affirm that the
goodness of sexual intercourse goes beyond its procreative
purpose.
3 Whenever sexual intercourse occurs apart from the intent to
conceive, the use of contraceptives is the responsibility of the
man and of the woman.
Our congregations and church schools ought to provide sex
education in the context of the Christian faith. Such education,
beginning in the elementary years, needs to emphasize values such
as responsibility, mutuality, and abstinence from sexual
intercourse outside of marriage. Parents should also be prepared to
teach sexual responsibility to their children in the home. It is
especially important that young men and young women be taught to
exercise their sexuality responsibly.
Because this church recognizes parenthood as a vocation that
women and men share, we should encourage and educate males, from an
early age, to assume more responsibility for raising children.
Congregations should provide parenting classes and support groups
for fathers and for mothers.
In keeping with our commitment to become communities that are
truly life-affirming, this church challenges the following
life-degrading attitudes that permeate the prevailing culture and
may contribute to the high incidence of abortion: messages in the
media and elsewhere that encourage irresponsible sexual activity;
materialism, individualism, and excessive concern for
self-interest; the desire for "perfect" children, and treating
those who are not as if they were "disposable"; attitudes and
practices that are inhospitable to children and to the women who
bear them; low regard of human life, especially the lives of
African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, or Native Americans, and of
many women and children who are poor.
Through these and other efforts, we as a church seek to reduce
the need to turn to abortion as the answer to unintended
pregnancies.
IV. GUIDANCE IN MAKING DECISIONS
REGARDING UNINTENDED PREGNANCIES
We are called to be a compassionate community, praying and
standing with those who struggle with decisions regarding
unintended pregnancies. We encourage women and men to seek support
and counsel from family members, pastors, professionals, and
confidants whom they trust and respect. Church members must not
only be aware of the moral complexity of the situation, but be able
and willing to listen and walk with women and men through the
process of decision-making, healing, and renewal, a process that
may include feelings such as grief, guilt, relief, denial, regret,
or anger.
[D]
Pastors and other members of this church should be trained to
provide counsel that is competent and respectful of the integrity
of the woman, the man, and others who my be involved in these
decisions. The professional expertise of the church's social
ministry organizations should also be utilized. It is important
that those who counsel persons faced with unintended pregnancies
respect how deeply the woman's pregnancy involves her whole
person--body, mind and spirit--in relation to all the commitments
that comprise her stewardship of life. Counselors should seek to
call forth her power to act responsibly after prayerful reflection
upon all factors involved.
Regardless of the decisions, our pastoral response must be a
gracious affirmation of the value of women's lives and assistance
in dealing with ongoing implications of their decisions for their
own well-being and their relationships.
A. Continuing the Pregnancy
Because of the Christian presumption to preserve and
protect life, this church, in most circumstances, encourages women
with unintended pregnancies to continue the pregnancy. Faith and
trust in God's promises has the power to sustain people in the face
of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. In each set of
circumstances, there must also be a realistic assessment of what
will be necessary to bear, nurture, and provide for children over
the long-term, and what resources are available or need to be
provided for this purpose. The needs of children are a constant.
The parenting arrangements through which these needs are met may
vary. If it is not possible for both parents to raise the child,
this might be done by one parent, by the extended family, or by
foster or adoptive parents.
This church encourages and seeks to support adoption as a
positive option to abortion. Because adoption is an increasingly
more open process today, it generally is easier for birth parents
to have a role in selecting the adoptive parents and in maintaining
some contact with the child. These possibilities can be helpful in
the grieving process that is likely to occur when birth parent(s)
choose to place the child for adoption after having bonded with the
child during pregnancy. Care needs to be taken in selecting
adoption processes that do not exploit but safeguard the welfare of
all parties involved. At the same time, we recognize that there are
unintended pregnancies for which adoption is not an acceptable
option.
We encourage and seek to make it possible for people of diverse
cultural and racial backgrounds and with limited financial means to
adopt children. We encourage those who contemplate adopting to
consider adopting children with special needs. Mothers and fathers
choosing to place their children for adoption should be affirmed
and supported in view of society's prejudices against such
decisions.
B. Ending a Pregnancy
This church recognizes that there can be sound reasons for
ending a pregnancy through induced abortion. The following provides
guidance for those considering such a decision. We recognize that
conscientious decisions need to be made in relation to difficult
circumstances that vary greatly. What is determined to be a morally
responsible decision in one situation may not be in another.
In reflecting ethically on what should be done in the case of an
unintended pregnancy, consideration should be given to the status
and condition of the life in the womb. We also need to consider the
conditions under which the pregnancy occurred and the implications
of the pregnancy for the woman's life.
An abortion is morally responsible in those cases in which
continuation of a pregnancy presents a clear threat to the physical
life of the woman.
A woman should not be morally obligated to carry the resulting
pregnancy to term if the pregnancy occurs when both parties do not
participate willingly in sexual intercourse.
[E] This is especially true in cases of rape and incest. This
can also be the case in some situations in which women are so
dominated and oppressed that they have no choice regarding sexual
intercourse and little access to contraceptives. Some conceptions
occur under dehumanizing conditions that are contrary to God's
purposes.
There are circumstances of extreme fetal abnormality, which will
result in severe suffering and very early death of an infant. In
such cases, after competent medical consultations, the parent(s)
may responsibly choose to terminate the pregnancy. Whether they
choose to continue or to end such pregnancies, this church supports
the parent(s) with compassion, recognizing the struggle involved in
the decision.
Although abortion raises significant moral issues at any stage
of fetal development, the closer the life in the womb comes to full
term the more serious such issues become.
[F] When a child can survive outside a womb, it becomes
possible for other people, and not only the mother, to nourish and
care for the child. This church opposes ending intrauterine life
when a fetus is developed enough to live outside a uterus with the
aid of reasonable and necessary technology. If a pregnancy needs to
be interrupted after this point, every reasonable and necessary
effort should be made to support this life, unless there are lethal
fetal abnormalities indicating that the prospective newborn will
die very soon.
Our biblical and confessional commitments provide the basis for
us to continue deliberating together on the moral issues related to
these decisions. We have the responsibility to make the best
possible decisions in light of the information available to us and
our sense of accountability to God, neighbor, and self. In these
decisions, we must ultimately rely on the grace of God.
V. PUBLIC POLICY ISSUES RELATED TO ABORTION
The purpose of law is to protect life and liberty, and to
provide for the general welfare of society. One of the clearest
ways in which a society both expresses its attitudes and values,
and shapes them, is through law. Therefore, the church's position
on abortion must include guidance for the political decisions
whereby justice is sought in the community, from before the
pregnancy to long afterward.
What is legal is not necessarily moral, and what is moral should
not necessarily be enacted into law. Laws cannot enforce Christian
love, but in principle and application they should be just.
Christians as citizens and this church as an institution should
join with others to advocate for and support just laws and to work
to change those, which are unjust. In our attempts to influence the
shaping of public policy, we should not disregard the rights of
others, but work faithfully through the public processes by which
justice is sought for all.
A. Prevention of Unintended Pregnancies
Prevention of unintended pregnancies is crucial in
lessening the number of abortions. In addition to efforts within
church and home, this church supports appropriate forms of sex
education in schools, community pregnancy prevention programs, and
parenting preparation classes. We recognize the need for
contraceptives to be available, for voluntary sterilization to be
considered, and for research and development of new forms of
contraception.
B. Support for Life after Birth
Many women choose abortion in a desperate attempt to
survive in a hostile social environment. In order to affirm the
value of life and reduce the number of abortions, it is essential
for us as a church to work to improve support for life in
society.
Greater social responsibility for the care, welfare, and
education of children and families is needed through such measures
as access to quality, affordable health care, child care, and
housing. Sufficient income support for families needs to be
provided by employers, or, in the case of the unemployed, through
government assistance. As a society we need to provide increased
support for education, nutrition, and services that protect
children from abuse and neglect.
[G]
Because parenthood is a vocation that women and men share, this
church supports public and private initiatives to provide adequate
maternity and paternity leaves, greater flexibility in the work
place, and efforts to correct the disparity between the incomes of
men and women.
The law must hold both parents responsible for the financial
support of their children.
C. The Regulation of Abortion
Members of this church hold different opinions about the role and
extent of public law and regulation in relation to abortion. The
spectrum of disagreement ranges from those who believe all
abortions should be prohibited by law, except to save the life of
the mother, to those who oppose any law seeking to regulate
abortion, except to protect the health and safety of the woman. For
some, the question of pregnancy and abortion is not a matter for
governmental interference, but a matter of religious liberty and
freedom of conscience protected by the First Amendment. For others,
the law's function in protecting life needs to include the life in
the womb. Some stress the limited ability of law to stop abortions,
and contend that there is increased danger to women if abortions
are made illegal. They maintain that regulation takes away a
woman's freedom to choose abortion as well as her freedom to affirm
life by choosing to bear the child. Still others see the need to
work for laws that both protect life in the womb to a greater
degree and protect women's freedom to choose abortion in certain
circumstances.
The position of this church is that government has a legitimate
role in regulating abortion. A major challenge is to formulate
policy regarding abortion that will have sufficient consensus to be
enforceable. Furthermore, any proposed regulation should contribute
toward the intended goals without generating problems worse than
those it seeks to address.
In the case of abortion, public policy has a double challenge.
One is to be effective in protecting prenatal life. The other is to
protect the dignity of women and their freedom to make responsible
decisions in difficult situations. Pursuing those ends is
particularly formidable because our society is so divided on this
issue, and because women, people of color, and those of low income
are so under-represented in legislative and judicial processes. In
its advocacy regarding these issues, this church should exert every
effort to see that the needs of those most directly affected,
particularly the pregnant woman and the life in her womb, are
seriously considered in the political process.
Laws should be enacted and enforced justly for the preservation
and enhancement of life, and should avoid unduly encumbering or
endangering the lives of women.
Because of our conviction that both the life of the woman and
the life in her womb must be respected by law, this church
opposes:
-
the total lack of regulation of abortion;
-
legislation that would outlaw abortion in all circumstances;
-
laws that prevent access to information about all options
available to women faced with unintended pregnancies;
-
laws that deny access to safe and affordable services for
morally justifiable abortions;
-
mandatory or coerced abortion or sterilization;
-
laws that prevent couples from practicing contraception;
-
laws that are primarily intended to harass those contemplating
or deciding for an abortion.
The position of this church is that, in cases where the life of
the mother is threatened, where pregnancy results from rape or
incest, or where the embryo or fetus has lethal abnormalities
incompatible with life, abortion prior to viability should not be
prohibited by law or by lack of public funding of abortions for low
income women. On the other hand, this church supports legislation
that prohibits abortions that are performed after the fetus is
determined to be viable, except when the mother's life is
threatened or when lethal abnormalities indicate the prospective
newborn will die very soon.
Beyond these situations, this church neither supports nor
opposes laws prohibiting abortion.
D. Some Issues Requiring Further
Deliberation
It is the position of this church that further deliberation is
needed on such questions as whether consultation with the spouse or
partner should be required, whether and how parental consent should
be required for a minor seeking an abortion, and whether public
funds should be used to pay for abortions.
On the issue of public funding of abortions, two important
values are in conflict--the concern for equity of access to legal
medical services, and the concern that people's tax money not be
used to pay for what some people consider profoundly wrong. While
we strongly affirm family communication and support, the law should
recognize that in some cases husband or partner involvement in the
decision could be unwise or dangerous (e.g., if the relationship is
broken or violent). If a law requires parental consent when the
woman is a minor, it should specify other trusted adults as
alternatives if parental involvement is inappropriate or
unsafe.
It is through the public processes of our society that the
common good is sought for all. This church encourages its members
to participate in the public debate on abortion in a spirit of
respect for those with whom they differ. Committed to a process of
raising and deliberating the difficult and unresolved questions,
this church encourages its members, informed by faith
understandings and by their conscience, to decide and act on this
issue in ways that are responsive to God and to the needs of the
neighbor.
In conclusion, the church's role in society begins long before
and extends far beyond legislative regulation. It seeks to shape
attitudes and values that affirm people in whatever circumstances
they find themselves. Its pastoral care, compassionate outreach,
and life-sustaining assistance are crucial in supporting those who
bear children, as well as those who choose not to do so. Through
these and other means the people of God seek to be truly supportive
of life.
Social teaching statements provide an analysis and
interpretation of an issue, set forth basic theological and ethical
perspectives related to it, and offer guidance for the corporate
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and its individual members.
They also illustrate the implications of their teaching for the
social practice of this church. In their use as teaching documents,
their authority is persuasive, not coercive. (From "Social
Statements in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America", adopted
by the 1989 Churchwide Assembly, which also specifies that an
addendum "be added to those statements that elicit significant
division in the Churchwide Assembly summarizing dissenting points
of view.")
Endnotes
1. The issue of abortion was addressed by the Lutheran
Church in America in its social statement, "Sex, Marriage, and
Family" (1970) and in a 1978 clarifying minute. The American
Lutheran Church addressed this issue in a series of statements in
1974, 1976, and 1980.
2. Embryology provides insight into the complex
mystery of Gods creative activity. How we interpret and evaluate
this data makes a difference in how we as Christians make decisions
regarding abortion:
The genetic material from the egg and sperm unite at the point
of fertilization and form a unique, undifferentiated, loose cluster
of cells. From 40-75 percent of these zygotes spontaneously fail to
implant in the uterus. After implantation occurs at about two weeks
after fertilization, the complex process of developmental
differentiation begins, with a close symbiotic relationship between
the embryo and the mothers body. At about the eighth week, the
embryo becomes a fetus. Integrated brain functioning begins to
emerge at about the tenth week, followed by the increasingly
complex emergence of functional, behavioral, and eventually psychic
individuality. The social aspect emerges through recognition by and
relation with others, most dramatically as birth is approached. The
fetus becomes viable when it is capable of surviving disconnected
from the placenta. Depending upon technological supports, this can
occur at 24 weeks if not earlier.
3. These positions are represented in
predecessor social statements of the American Lutheran Church and
the Lutheran Church in America. Because a social statement on human
sexuality is expected to be considered by this church in 1993,
matters of sexuality are not dealt with at length in this
statement.
Addendum
The following amendments (at the points indicated in
the text) received significant support at the Churchwide Assembly
but they did not receive the vote needed for approval:
[A] "... and oppose induced abortion as a
method of birth control."
[B] "... and thereby the number of
abortions."
[C] to expand the paragraph as follows:
"We recognize that the violation or the taking of human life in any
way is not in accord with Gods ultimate will for creation and
therefore sinful. We confess our sin as a community of faith. All
who participate in this decision must be guided by the theological
principles of tragic last option or greater good, which
acknowledges that God has given to humankind the gift of
discernment. We often have fallen short ...."
[D] to insert a new paragraph at this
point: "The support given by members of this church will seek to
witness to the scriptural norm that God is the creator and
preserver of life. This church, and especially the pastors, will
carry out its ministry with both God's Law and God's Gospel, and
proclaim forgiveness and new life to all who are troubled and
penitent."
[E] "A woman should not be morally
obligated to carry the resulting pregnancy to term if the pregnancy
occurs in cases of rape and incest."
[F] "Abortion is not acceptable later than
the first trimester."
[G] "The Church must work vigorously to
support state and national legislation to provide free prenatal and
maternity care to women whose medical needs are not adequately met
through medical insurance."
Copyright © September 1991 Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America. Produced by the Department for Studies, Division for
Church in Society. Permission is granted to reproduce this document
as needed, providing each copy displays the copyright as printed
above.