Institute on Religion and Democracy Press Release
Contact: Jeff Walton (202)413-5639, jwalton@TheIRD.org
Washington, DC—Today’s Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization details an effective reversal of both Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, returning abortion as an issue for states to decide.
Mainline Protestant churches played a significant role in legitimizing abortion even before the Roe decision effectively struck down state level abortion restrictions and established a constitutional right to abortion. Numeric decline in Mainline churches, paired with the growth of Evangelical and Pentecostal forms of Christianity as a share of Protestant Christianity in the United States, shifted public viewpoint on how best to uphold the sanctity of human life.
IRD President Mark Tooley commented:
“The overthrow of Roe v. Wade enables Christians and The Church in America to explain why our faith affirms the humanity of unborn persons and why we think they deserve legal protection.
“The Church affirms that all persons, by simply being, irrespective of their capacity or worldly value, bear God’s image and are sacred.
“Post-Roe America can become more humane and more compassionate, if The Church leads the way by teaching and by example. We must also confess that The Church has not always been consistent in his commitment to defending all humanity. And so we should reflect on our own failures and consider how God may be leading us forward to a time more aligned with His purposes.
Director John Lomperis of IRD’s United Methodist Action Program commented:
“This decision to move American law in a new, life-affirming direction is welcomed by a great many Christians across America and around the world.
“In 2016, I was proud to be part of the strong majority of United Methodist Church delegates who repealed our denomination’s previous endorsement of the atrocious Roe v. Wade decision.”
Comment by Stephanie Jenkins on June 24, 2022 at 10:22 pm
As an old lady who left her cradle church, Episcopal, after 72 years, why does the Episcopal Church support abortion, but not support the death penalty? In consistent theology. Makes me sad.
Comment by Donald on June 25, 2022 at 6:47 am
As I look at what is now taking place in major American cities on a mass scale, I am reminded of this passage from The Screwtape Letters:
My Dear, My Very Dear, Wormwood…:
“You have let a soul (now future millions of souls) slip through your fingers. The howl of sharpened famine for that loss re-echoes at this moment through all levels of the Kingdom of Noise down to the Throne itself. It makes me made to think of it…Defeated, out maneuvered fool!…”
Letter XXXI
Comment by Rev. Dr. Lee D Cary (ret. UM clergy) on June 27, 2022 at 2:57 pm
I can’t tell who wrote this statement, but I find it to be Spot-0n accurate. Thank you, whoever you are.
“Mainline Protestant churches played a significant role in legitimizing abortion even before the Roe decision effectively struck down state level abortion restrictions and established a constitutional right to abortion. Numeric decline in Mainline churches, paired with the growth of Evangelical and Pentecostal forms of Christianity as a share of Protestant Christianity in the United States, shifted public viewpoint on how best to uphold the sanctity of human life.”