UCC calls for church support in facilitating access to abortion for individuals experiencing pregnancy

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.”

“The Bible recognizes unborn babies as valuable human beings in Luke 1:41, Genesis 25:21-22, Psalm 22:10-11 and other passages. Jesus placed great value on children when others in society did not in Matthew 19:14,” wrote Bilger.

“Christianity always has taught that every human life is valuable, and killing innocent people is evil. But some churches, including a number of shrinking Protestant denominations like the UCC, have abandoned this teaching in recent years.”

Bilger added, “it is well accepted that a living human being with his/her own unique DNA comes into existence at the moment of conception.”

“Scientists, biology textbooks and other expert sources agree, and it is a reason why many non-religious people also believe abortion is wrong,” she continued.

According to the UCC’s “2022 National Eleven Year Report,” released in June, the denomination has approximately 712,000 members as of 2022, representing a drop of over 280,000 compared to the about 998,000 members in 2012.

Additionally, the report found that the average weekly attendance in UCC congregations declined from more than 378,000 people in 2012 to just over 225,000 last year.  

Earlier this month, the UCC elected its first-ever female president, Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson.

The UCC began in 1957 with the union of the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the General Council of Congregational Christian Churches. It has developed a progressive theological reputation through the years and became the first American mainline denomination to allow same-sex couples to get married at its churches.

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