PLATFORM : Whose Decision?

While the religious community recognizes the profound moral questions related to abortion and takes them very seriously, it is important to note that these are sharp differences about what entity in our society should be empowered to make the decision to terminate or not terminate a pregnancy.

The “absolute right” of a fetus to be considered human and the absolute right of a woman to control her own body are, from a moral point of view, fictions. There are sometimes sound moral reasons why a fetus should be aborted, and there are sometimes sound moral reasons why a woman should not have an abortion.

But in our real life in a society, some entity must decide. It is understandable that in light of its view of abortion, the Catholic Church believes that government ought to pass laws prohibiting it. But many Protestant churches, as well as many individual members of all religions, believe that the entity in the best position to weigh the conflicting values in any specific situation is the woman herself. This does not mean that the decisions she makes are necessarily right in the eyes of God.

But it does mean that the possibilities of damaging human life are far less when the decision is made by the person most intimately involved than when that decision is dictated by impersonal laws with criminal sanctions.