Guest Author - Candance Gordon
As we well know, those who take a pro-life stance in the abortion debate usually base their argument on the Bible and can quote scripture all day long that they interpret to mean life begins at conception. You don’t hear quite as much of this out of the pro-choice side. That made me wonder if there are, in fact, any churches that actually do take a pro-choice stance and if they take it based on their interpretation of the Bible.
I did a little research and I found The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC). The group, which was founded in 1973 to help keep the recently won rights in Roe v. Wade safe, is comprised of national organizations from many traditional faiths, including the Episcopal Church, Humanist and Conservative Judaism, the Presbyterian Church USA and the United Methodist Church. According to RCRC website, they believe “the decision about terminating a pregnancy is a personal decision, to be determined by an individual keeping with her convictions and religious beliefs.” They don’t believe that beliefs of any one religion as to when life begins should made into law and they think the Religious Coalition’s attempts to do away with lawful abortion and, in some cases, contraception, is dangerous. Their focus is supporting choice and freedom of religion.
The RCRC says that abortion isn’t mentioned specifically in the Bible but that the termination of pregnancy is mentioned several times, most notably in Exodus 21:22-25, which reads, “If men struggle with each other and strike a woman who is pregnant, causing a miscarriage, yet there is no further injury, he may surely be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him and he shall pay as the judge decides, 23 But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty, life for life 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise”. They contend this passage shows that, if the fetus is killed, it’s only a fine but if the woman is killed it’s a life for life, because a fetus is not considered a life. The coalition also points out that there is no “condemnation or prohibition of abortion anywhere in the Bible”.
Like the legislation proposed in the Ryan-DeLauro Bill, the RCRC supports comprehensive sex education, access to affordable contraceptives and family planning services for all women, regardless of their income and support for women who choose to continue their pregnancy and need help caring for their other children. They are also dedicated to making sure that reproductive choice remains a basic part of religious liberty.
The RCRC website provides a lot of information about their various programs, their state affiliates and also provides pro-choice sermons as well as prayers for women who are trying to make the difficult choice of whether or not to terminate a pregnancy. It’s definitely worth a look whether you’re religious or not because it provides an interesting faith-based perspective on an issue that most critics oppose based on religious principles.
