Baptist News Global
Sections
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Curated
  • Storytelling
    • Faith & Justice >
      • Charleston: Metanoia with Bill Stanfield
      • Charlotte: QC Family Tree with Greg and Helms Jarrell
      • Little Rock: Judge Wendell Griffen
      • North Carolina: Conetoe
    • Welcoming the Stranger >
      • Lost Boys of Sudan: St. John’s Baptist Charlotte
      • Awakening to Immigrant Justice: Myers Park Baptist Church
      • Hospitality on the corner: Gaston Christian Center
    • Signature Ministries >
      • Jake Hall: Gospel Gothic, Music and Radio
    • Singing Our Faith >
      • Hymns for a Lifetime: Ken Wilson and Knollwood Baptist Church
      • Norfolk Street Choir
    • Resilient Rural America >
      • Alabama: Perry County
      • Texas: Hidalgo County
      • Arkansas Delta
      • Southeast Kentucky
  • More
    • Contact
    • About
    • Donate
    • Associated Baptist Press Foundation
    • Planned Giving
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Advertising
    • Ministry Jobs and More
    • Transitions
    • Subscribe
    • Submissions and Permissions
Donate Subscribe
Search Search this site

United Methodists’ ‘reluctant pro-choice’ stance puts clergy and laity at odds with new Texas abortion law

NewsCynthia Astle  |  October 14, 2021

The current struggle over Texas’ strict anti-abortion law perplexes many United Methodists who thought the issue of reproductive choice had been decided. Now they’re finding themselves back where clergy coalitions were in the 1960s and ’70s, seeking to support women in finding reproductive care even though the new state law effectively criminalizes such ministry.

In brief, Texas’ anti-abortion law, sometimes known as “the heartbeat bill,” outlaws abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy. That’s when a fetal heartbeat most often can be detected, but often before a woman experiences pregnancy symptoms. The law makes no provision for abortion in cases of rape or incest, including for minor girls.

Most importantly for United Methodist clergy, the law provides that anyone who “aids and abets” a woman to have an abortion through giving referral information or counseling can be sued by any citizen, a provision that has put clergy and other pastoral counselors at risk.

UMC women leading protests

Two United Methodist clergywomen, Stephanie Arnold and Katie Gilbert, posted a protest of the Texas law on TikTok dressed in costumes resembling those in The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel of women’s slavery upon which a Hulu series was based. Arnold and Gilbert serve as pastors at First United Methodist Church of Birmingham, Ala.

United Methodist Women also issued a statement denouncing the Texas law: “United Methodist Women, like The United Methodist Church, affirms that women and families need access to the full range of reproductive health care, with the guidance the church provides. … We pray that legislators in states across the country will make a different choice and allow women to discuss health care needs with their loved ones and health care providers.”

Lynn Parsons, a United Methodist laywoman in San Diego, urged her co-religionists to address the Texas law by becoming centers for reproductive health knowledge. In a commentary for UM News she wrote: “Why aren’t churches sources of information about birth control and prevention of venereal disease for their youngest, most vulnerable members who are having sex, even if we want to pretend they are not?”

Threat to pastoral ministry

Church historian William B. Lawrence noted the Texas abortion law’s threat to pastoral ministry in a recent commentary for UM News. Lawrence participated in a coalition, Clergy Consultation Service, that operated in the 1960s and ’70s to assist women with abortion access prior to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide.

William B. Lawrence

“If the newly passed anti-abortion law in Texas had been in place 50 years ago, my ministry could have ended soon after it started,” Lawrence wrote. “I could have faced civil court actions for which my $5,800 annual salary would have been inadequate to finance a legal response. I might have left the ministry because I could not afford to stay in it.”

He added: “What is more menacing about the Texas law is that pastors who provide counseling and referral services could be sued by persons who had no role in the pregnancy, the decision-making process or the ministry that a United Methodist is authorized to exercise by the Social Principles of the church. Anyone who happened to see a woman leave my church office with a pamphlet that might contain referral information about the health care to which she has a right, according to United Methodist policy, could file suit against me in civil court. … In effect, the law in Texas could make it financially impossible for a United Methodist to continue offering pastoral care to persons in need.”

UMC stance on abortion

In contrast to the Texas law, the official United Methodist stance on abortion, found in Paragraph 161 of the Social Principles, states: “We recognize tragic conflicts of life with life that may justify abortion, and in such cases we support the legal option of abortion under proper medical procedures by certified medical providers. We support parental, guardian, or other responsible adult notification and consent before abortions can be performed on girls who have not yet reached the age of legal adulthood. We cannot affirm abortion as an acceptable means of birth control, and we unconditionally reject it as a means of gender selection or eugenics.”

The United Methodist abortion stance represents decades of deliberations to create a nuanced guideline that is both thoughtful and reverent, said Robert Vaughn Jr., senior pastor of Community of Faith United Methodist Church in Herndon, Va. Vaughn is a director of the General Board of Church and Society, the social-justice arm of the UMC that is charged with carrying out its Social Principles, including those on reproductive choice.

“Terminating a pregnancy isn’t just a medical decision; it requires advanced pastoral care so that a person can look at the whole picture.”

“Terminating a pregnancy isn’t just a medical decision; it requires advanced pastoral care so that a person can look at the whole picture,” Vaughn said. “The United Methodist principle requires you to think through a decision, to seize the whole complexity of the question. It’s not as simple as some easy slogan.

“The church seeks to be sure that everyone has access to good reproductive health care, while also recognizing the disproportionate circumstances of those who have few choices because of lack of care, economic situation and other factors.”

Pastoral experience

Like Lawrence, Vaughn has direct experience counseling women about terminating a pregnancy. He said his experience has convinced him of the wisdom of the United Methodist approach.

“In one of my churches, I had a young woman who would term herself ‘pro-life,’” he said. “However, she was a young adult with a mental health condition that was managed with medication. The medication meant that she could function well, but it also meant that if she became pregnant, she couldn’t carry the pregnancy to term.”

Vaughn said the young woman did become pregnant and chose abortion, knowing the fetus wouldn’t be viable because of her own health condition.

“I remember walking with her as she and her family went through that situation,” he recalled. “She had to run the gantlet of people screaming at her before she reached a protected zone (that restricted demonstrations outside the clinic). It was good to be part of a denomination that respected her as an independent moral decision-maker, that gave her the right to choose.”

Vaughn was adamant that access to reproductive health care, including abortion, forms a key part of United Methodists’ “reluctant pro-choice” stance.

Vaughn was adamant that access to reproductive health care, including abortion, forms a key part of United Methodists’ “reluctant pro-choice” stance.

“To drive hundreds of miles for health care, including reproductive care, is just not appropriate,” he said. “In some places you have to go a long way for health care. Closing clinics and not providing training for full health care is a challenge. There’s a lack of health care in rural places. Some women don’t have the economic resources to travel, plus they’d need to take off work. It’s problematic that some states have put in delaying tactics such as requiring a first and a second appointment before a procedure.”

Ultimately, the United Methodist Church officially opposes the Texas abortion law in principle if not through open protest, according to its Social Principles: “Governmental laws and regulations do not provide all the guidance required by the informed Christian conscience. Therefore, a decision concerning abortion should be made only after thoughtful and prayerful consideration by the parties involved, with medical, family, pastoral and other appropriate counsel.”

Cynthia B. Astle is a veteran journalist who has covered the worldwide United Methodist Church at all levels for more than 30 years. She serves as editor of United Methodist Insight, an online journal she founded in 2011.

 

Related articles:

Clergy, social workers, counselors fear they could be targeted by new Texas abortion law, which Supreme Court lets stand for now

Talking about abortion is an opportunity to call on the grace of Jesus Christ | Opinion by Erin Jean Warde

SBC calls for ‘immediate abolition of abortion without exception or compromise’

When being ‘pro-life’ really isn’t: How I became a Democrat who opposes abortion | Analysis by Chris Conley

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
Tags:TexasAbortionUnited Methodist ChurchUMCTexas abortion lawUMC WomenSocial Principles
More by
Cynthia Astle
  • Get BNG headlines in your inbox

  • Featured

    • ‘Pastor Johnny’ wins a bid to unseal Guidepost documents

      News

    • Even on January 6, family was important to Mike Pence

      News

    • Are our churches prepared for Christian autocracy?

      Opinion

    • 30 years ago, RFRA passed with support from a broad coalition unimaginable today

      News


    Curated

    • Elon Musk expresses regret for endorsing antisemitic post but swears at advertisers boycotting X over it

      Elon Musk expresses regret for endorsing antisemitic post but swears at advertisers boycotting X over it

    • Search For God In A Faithless Nation: Inside One Man’s Journey

      Search For God In A Faithless Nation: Inside One Man’s Journey

    • Pope Francis asks theologians to ‘demasculinize’ the church

      Pope Francis asks theologians to ‘demasculinize’ the church

    • An Indian official plotted to assassinate a Sikh separatist leader in New York, US prosecutors say

      An Indian official plotted to assassinate a Sikh separatist leader in New York, US prosecutors say

    Read Next:

    What would happen if clergy unionized?

    AnalysisKristen Thomason

    More Articles

    • All
    • News
    • Opinion
    • Curated
    • Supreme Court declines to reinstate Florida ban on drag shows

      NewsSteve Rabey

    • Immigration advocates deplore House Republicans’ effort to tie Ukraine aid to severe border measures

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Big ideas at human size: An interview with Carrie Newcomer

      OpinionSusan M. Shaw, Senior Columnist

    • Even as Biden supports their interest in Israel, white evangelicals disapprove of his job performance

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • As SBC moves toward second vote on Law Amendment, debate continues on just what it means

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • What I learned teaching incarcerated white students about structural racism

      OpinionChris Caldwell

    • Jack Tales: Remembering Jack Causey

      OpinionJustin Cox

    • Hawks and Felton to lead CBF advocacy efforts

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • The horror of Let Us Prey may not be as far from home as you think

      AnalysisRick Pidcock

    • How churches can participate in the Indigenous Land Back movement and why they should

      AnalysisKristen Thomason

    • 30 years ago, RFRA passed with support from a broad coalition unimaginable today

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Are our churches prepared for Christian autocracy?

      OpinionBill Leonard, Senior Columnist

    • Even on January 6, family was important to Mike Pence

      NewsMaina Mwaura

    • On the SBC, Alliance and CBF and lost causes

      AnalysisAndrew Gardner

    • Transitions for the week of 12-1-23

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • ‘Pastor Johnny’ wins a bid to unseal Guidepost documents

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • What would happen if clergy unionized?

      AnalysisKristen Thomason

    • Praying in a time of war

      OpinionMartin Thielen

    • Tougher border policies will not stop the flow of migrants, immigration experts say

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • The speaker and the Bible

      OpinionJim Harnish

    • Professors defend Thomas Jefferson from Christian nationalism

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Baptists were for separation of church and state before they were against it

      OpinionRodney Kennedy

    • Judge rules discovery may continue in Sillses’ lawsuit against SBC parties

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • What happens when the snow melts? Humanizing victims of the war in Gaza with The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

      OpinionMallory Challis

    • Supreme Court declines to reinstate Florida ban on drag shows

      NewsSteve Rabey

    • Immigration advocates deplore House Republicans’ effort to tie Ukraine aid to severe border measures

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Even as Biden supports their interest in Israel, white evangelicals disapprove of his job performance

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • As SBC moves toward second vote on Law Amendment, debate continues on just what it means

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Hawks and Felton to lead CBF advocacy efforts

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • 30 years ago, RFRA passed with support from a broad coalition unimaginable today

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Even on January 6, family was important to Mike Pence

      NewsMaina Mwaura

    • Transitions for the week of 12-1-23

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • ‘Pastor Johnny’ wins a bid to unseal Guidepost documents

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Tougher border policies will not stop the flow of migrants, immigration experts say

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Professors defend Thomas Jefferson from Christian nationalism

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Judge rules discovery may continue in Sillses’ lawsuit against SBC parties

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • She was the only Baptist and only woman delegate at a Vatican synod

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Darius Rucker dedicates this one to the faith of his mother

      NewsMaina Mwaura

    • Virginia church took the grief group outside the church

      NewsPeggy Haymes

    • Support for Trump is cultural more than theological, author says

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Amanda Held Opelt has a story to write as well

      NewsMaina Mwaura

    • He’s got a Rice business degree; now he’s focused on finding the best use for church buildings

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Rosalynn Carter: ‘There are not enough accolades to describe how wonderful she was’

      NewsMaina Mwaura

    • Amidst global chaos, ordinary South Africans are emblem of Muslim-Jewish co-existence

      NewsNyasha Bhobo

    • Once again, faith and humanitarian groups decry Texas’ latest approach to ‘border security’

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Archives reveal timeless messages from Dallas clergy days after JFK assassination

      NewsJeff Hampton

    • Christian groups lament and repent role religion played in allowing Israel-Hamas war

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • U.S. evangelicals continue to unite behind Israel but are less likely to mention Palestinian victims

      NewsSteve Rabey

    • Big ideas at human size: An interview with Carrie Newcomer

      OpinionSusan M. Shaw, Senior Columnist

    • What I learned teaching incarcerated white students about structural racism

      OpinionChris Caldwell

    • Jack Tales: Remembering Jack Causey

      OpinionJustin Cox

    • Are our churches prepared for Christian autocracy?

      OpinionBill Leonard, Senior Columnist

    • Praying in a time of war

      OpinionMartin Thielen

    • The speaker and the Bible

      OpinionJim Harnish

    • Baptists were for separation of church and state before they were against it

      OpinionRodney Kennedy

    • What happens when the snow melts? Humanizing victims of the war in Gaza with The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

      OpinionMallory Challis

    • Hamas’ ‘sexual pogrom’ in Israel

      OpinionJonathan Feldstein

    • ‘Useful idiots’ won’t end the Israel-Hamas war, and neither will a cease-fire

      OpinionErich Bridges

    • The blood of Advent

      OpinionJulia Goldie Day

    • Five truths about church committees and their work

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • Tell me about your Christian tattoo

      OpinionMadison Boboltz

    • A generational torch passes at Bubba-Doo’s

      OpinionCharles Qualls

    • The desire for retaliation is a fool’s errand

      OpinionJohn Carter

    • Knowing what we see and remembering what we know

      OpinionWendell Griffen

    • Two roads diverged in a cold food court

      OpinionBrad Bull

    • What are you wearing to Thanksgiving dinner this year?

      OpinionMallory Challis

    • Did Thomas Jefferson say the president should attend church as an example?

      OpinionWarren Throckmorton

    • Between Hamas and Boko Haram

      OpinionAnthony Akaeze

    • Why the Black church must account for and attend to its own marginalized

      OpinionChristian Ingram

    • Speaker Mike Johnson betrays core Baptist value

      OpinionJennifer Hawks

    • Prison tables and the Lord’s Table

      OpinionChris Caldwell

    • The spiritual practice of friendship

      OpinionMallory Challis

    • What is digital chaplaincy, and why do we need such chaplains?

      OpinionEileen Campbell-Reed

    • Elon Musk expresses regret for endorsing antisemitic post but swears at advertisers boycotting X over it

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Search For God In A Faithless Nation: Inside One Man’s Journey

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Pope Francis asks theologians to ‘demasculinize’ the church

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • An Indian official plotted to assassinate a Sikh separatist leader in New York, US prosecutors say

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • AP Photos: Church that hosted Rosalynn Carter funeral played key role in her and her husband’s lives

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Stoicism and spirituality: A philosopher explains how more Americans’ search for meaning is turning them toward the classics

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • How support for Trump is causing a rift in the evangelical church

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • In the US, Hmong ‘new year’ recalls ancestral spirits while teaching traditions to new generations

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Argentina’s president-elect, Javier Milei, visits Lubavitcher rabbi’s grave to offer thanks for his surprise victory

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Canadian Evangelical Scholar Fired Following University Investigation

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Top Diplomat Of Ecumenical Patriarchate Delves Into Catholic-Orthodox Relations

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Africa’s Wall Street Quiets Christian Worship

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Houston’s Hindu youth will soon have a summer campsite of their own

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • The challenges of being a religious scientist

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Tens of thousands march against antisemitism in London including UK ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Why George Santos’ lies are even worse than the usual political lies – a moral philosopher explains

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • The Democratic Republic Of The Congo Works To Improve Religious Freedom For Christians

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Timekeepers no more, rank-and-file Jehovah’s Witnesses say goodbye to tracking proselytizing hours

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • This ‘wind phone’ helps grievers feel connected to the loved ones they’ve lost

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Why People Switch Churches And The High Hopes That Come With Such Changes

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • For this group of trans women, the pope and his message of inclusivity are a welcome change

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Carlton Pearson, influential Oklahoma megachurch founder who rejected hell, dies at age 70

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Amid Economic Crisis, Ministry And Music Propel Cuban Minister Devoted To Sharing Bread Of Life

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Supreme Court Denies Florida’s Request To Reinstate Its Anti-Drag Law

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Nicaragua’s exiled clergy and faithful in Miami keep up struggle for human rights at Mass

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    Conversations that Matter.

    © 2023 Baptist News Global. All rights reserved.

    Want to share a story? We hope you will! Read our republishing, terms of use and privacy policies here.

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • RSS