Nuanced and Morally Serious

Fr. Tully, thank you for your essay. I was active with my diocesan churchwomen when Roe was passed, and because that was also the era of the thalidomide babies and the always-frightening specter of the "back alley," I believe we were secretly relieved when the Episcopal church recognized the need for legal abortion.

However, I feel certain we expected its position to stay within the Church for pastoral guidance so I was stunned to read in The Living Church (2/17/97) that former Presiding Bishop Browning had signed an Interfaith Letter - drafted by the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice - urging the members of Congress to sustain President Clinton's veto of the attempt to ban the partial-birth abortion procedure. In a way, the Episcopal Church has its in-house teaching as you describe, but it also has its outside teaching wihich is essentially an indifference to the fate of the unborn.

I regret writing such a negative post, but I felt it was important to pass along the view of a long-time parishioner.

Rev Tully,

I am glad your church is involved in helping people heal after an abortion. Confession and absolution is something that is needed in a case like this, but isn't there a serious conflict in your churches reasoning?

Confession and absolution are for sins, not mistakes, not for uncomfortable choices. Is your church saying that abortion is a sin? If it is, then why are you not calling it that? Its not just a choice. If the church isn't willing to make that call what exactly is your purpose in life?

By counseling that its okay to make this choice if you pray about it first, you put four lives in danger. The baby's, the mother's, the father's, and your own. Eternity is a very long time.

As for the Reverend's post, here, he raises a pretty important point. If they make abortion 'murder' under the law again, how are we to expect people to make this 'moral' choice with the help of their clergy? Even clergy privilege doesn't extend to a 'murder' not-yet-committed.

I've counseled a few women going through this decision, ...(And, frankly, with some community help and support, those women did choose to have the kids, except in one case years ago when carrying to term would have put woman and child on the street: she'd been fired by a religious boss for getting pregnant in the first place, on the grounds that this would interfere with the job, then fired 'on moral grounds' when she said she had to have an abortion, then. It was during a recession, that. Talk about your catch-22))

So. What happens if they criminalize abortions? Do women come for counseling and support, or does that mean they might be arrested? Do your local clergy become 'accessories to murder?' How about 'conspiracy charges?'

What happens? Women go directly to the illegal and unregulated back-rooms, as they always used to, and take their chances with the complications. Maybe the ol' bottle of Lysol will do the trick, too.

Is that really what the 'pro-lifers' want?

I wouldn't worry, J, some of your favorite Islamophobes are still churning out the same old abuse you know and love so well, mocking the Pagans with all the ignorance and OCD he can muster. But you don't have to scroll through screens and screens of JJ-spam to get to it.

Jihadist,
You rock.

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Hello Editors of On Faith,

We readers too, hope for a more productive discussion. But a more civilised and respectful one is hoped for with registeration? I seriously doubt it. I would miss being called a terrorist, a moron, an idiot and such by other readers/posters. Not that having to register is a deterrent at all for some with a talent for the more delicious and quite inventive invectives.

Cheers

Jihadist