The United Church of Christ overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling on member congregations of the liberal mainline denomination to help “pregnant people” get abortions.
At the 34th UCC General Synod earlier this month, delegates passed the measure denouncing the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision and calling for the denomination to support abortion access by a vote of 611 in favor, 24 opposed and 13 abstaining.
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Dobbs that abortion is not a constitutional right, overturning the 1973 decision Roe v. Wade. The decision also allowed several states to enact restrictions and bans on the procedure’s legality in most circumstances.
The UCC resolution claimed that “a majority of Americans support legal abortion in all or most cases” and that state abortion bans can threaten “the lives of pregnant people,” as well as “deepen unequal access to comprehensive reproductive care” for minority communities.
The resolution supports “resisting by peaceful means, including civil disobedience, any laws banning abortions, and calls upon every setting of the United Church of Christ to use Just Peace practices to confront abortion bans and restrictions on reproductive healthcare.”
The resolution also urges the United Church Board Ministerial Assistance to “provide emergency grants to any UCC Medical beneficiaries and other eligible applicants to cover out-of-pocket costs and travel costs incurred by accessing care not available in their home state.”
“[We call] upon Local Churches, Associations, and Conferences to physically, financially, and spiritually accompany people seeking and receiving abortions and other reproductive healthcare, in partnership with local healthcare agencies and abortion fund,” the resolution continued.
The Rev. Dakota Roberts, associate pastor at St. Peter’s United Church of Christ in Carmel, Indiana, said after the resolution was passed that the UCC is “a denomination founded on the principles of covenant and autonomy.”
“As sanctuary churches house refugees and immigrants from deportation, so now, too, the United Church of Christ encourages churches to love, support and exist as a sanctuary for individuals seeking access to safe abortions,” said Roberts in a statement.
Micaiah Bilger, staff writer at Life News, called the resolution and other UCC efforts against pro-life laws “radical pro-abortion actions” that “contradict Scripture and millennia of Judeo-Christian teachings.”
