Presbyterian General Assembly policy from 2012 and 1970 cited in support of legislation
by Rich Copley | Presbyterian News Service
Photo by Gayatri Malhotra via Unsplash
LEXINGTON, Kentucky — The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Office of Public Witness is asking people to contact their senators to urge them to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2021, saying it “ensures reproductive equity and protects bodily autonomy.”
The legislation and calls to support it come as states such as Texas are passing laws that drastically curtail abortion rights and the Supreme Court appears poised to support those efforts and roll back the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision which said women have the right to an abortion.
“The overturning of Roe v. Wade would have drastic negative impacts on individuals around the nation, with the greatest burden falling on low-income communities of color,” an Action Alert from the Capitol Hill office reads. “As the Supreme Court appears increasingly likely to weaken reproductive rights, it is more vital than ever that Congress pass legislation to codify Roe.”
The Alert cites Presbyterian policy from 1970 and 2012.
The 220th General Assembly approved policy “On Providing Just Access to Reproductive Health Care,” which stated, “No law should impose criminal penalties against any [person] who chooses or physician who performs a medically safe abortion … and no law should sanction any action intended to harm or harass those persons contemplating or deciding to have an abortion.” States do not have the right to subvert a pregnant person’s ability to make decisions about their own body. In 1970, prior to Roe, the 182nd General Assembly said, “the artificial or induced termination of a pregnancy is a matter of careful ethical decision of the patient … and therefore should not be restricted by law.”
The House of Representatives passed the Women’s Health Protection Act on Sept. 24 of last year. It has been received and read in the Senate but has yet to receive a vote. The call for consideration of the legislation comes shortly after the 49th anniversary of the Roe decision, which the U.S. Supreme Court announced on Jan. 22, 1973.
The Action Alert provides links and text to help people contact their senators.
The Office of Public Witness is one of the Compassion, Peace & Justice ministries of the Presbyterian Mission Agency.
You may freely reuse and distribute this article in its entirety for non-commercial purposes in any medium. Please include author attribution, photography credits, and a link to the original article. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDeratives 4.0 International License.