The decision to give emphasis to the repeal of all laws restricting or prohiting abortions performed by a duly licensed physician was voted in the 25th National Convention of the YWCA of the U.S.A. in Houston, Texas, in April 1970. Delegates representing 48 states were selected by their local Associations, and voting delegates were empowered to cast their votes, keeping in mind the best interests of the total YWCA. The decision to support repeal of restrictive abortion laws was passed unanimously.

In the 26th National Convention in San Diego in March 1973, delegates voted to "support efforts to provide safe, low-cost abortions to all women who desire them."

In line with our Christian Purpose we, in the YWCA, affirm that a highly ethical stance is one that has concern for the quality of life of the living as well as for the potential for life. We believe that a woman also has a fundamental, constitutional right to determine, along with her personal physician, the number and spacing of her children. Our decision does not mean that we advocate abortion as the most desirable solution to the problem, but rather that a woman should have the right to make the decision. Along with the YWCA many religious, social work and medical groups have endorsed repeal of laws because this makes it possible for a woman to have access to safe medical service if this seems the solution that she and her physician decide upon. This point of view is taken by many woman who themselves would not seek an abortion.

Because the YWCA voted as its overall imperative to work to eliminate racism wherever it occurs in institutions, it has a concern that no women should be deprived of services that others can have, but it also is concerned that no women be pressured into decisions which are not in their best personal interest.

ABORTION:

human choice

Published jointly by

the Division of General Welfare

and the Department of Population Problems, Board of Christian Social Concerns

of The United Methodist Church

May 1971

Foreword

The problem of abortion has troubled the mind of man throughout the ages primarily because it is a question which does not admit of absolute certainty or dogmatic answers. Pregnant women and brilliant theologians, churches and states have been deeply involved in the questioning and have come to differing and sometimes changing-answers.

The currents of recent times have swelled the debate anew. There has come a greater awareness of the terrible toll in human suffering throughout the world caused by illegal and self-inflicted abortions; an increased understanding of the tragedy of existence for unwanted and unloved children; a knowledge that abortion is very likely the most widely used form of birth control; a growing realization that laws have never stopped the practice of abortion but have only sent it underground; a belief by many women that laws against abortion deprive them of the fundamental right to make decisions regarding their own lives and welfare; a questioning of whether the state should compel the birth of children in these days of burgeoning numbers of people. All these elements have combined to bring about a reexamination of the moral, legal and personal aspects of abortion.

As a result of this searching reappraisal, the United Methodist Church, along with a number of other Protestant denominations, has called for removing the regulation of abortion from the criminal code, placing it instead under regulations similar to those guiding other medical practices (see back cover). This stand was approved by an overwhelming majority of the delegates to the General Conference of the United Methodist Church in 1970. However, the debate revealed the heartfelt doubts that troubled the minority, and illustrated that deeply religious and equally concerned people can differ on this issue.

Even as laws, denominational stances, and personal attitudes are changing, the debate continues. It is with the hope of helping to make this reexamination of abortion and the laws regarding it both searching and responsible, sensitive to human needs yet in accordance with the divine will, that this booklet is offered.

The writers present some of the reasoning that lay behind adoption of the position that abortion should be a decision between a woman and her physician. They write from different points of view the individual woman's, the ethical and theological, the legal. We hope readers will find both knowledge and guidance as they share the writers' thoughts.

GROVER C. BAGBY, Division of General Welfare RODNEY SHAW, Department of Population Problems

About the authors....

Tilda Norberg . . . born in Alabama, raised in Michigan . . . B.A. from Michigan State University in sociology . . . B.D. from Union Theological Seminary . . . ordained by United Church of Christ . . . trained as Gestalt therapist . . . long active in women's liberation movement . . . a founder of and still active on New York Task Force on Status of Women in the United Methodist Church . . . currently leading therapy groups sponsored by St. Clement's Episcopal Church in Manhattan.

John M. Swomley, Jr. . . . native of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania . . . B.A. from Dickinson College, M.A. and S.T.B. from Boston University, Ph.D. in political science from the University of Colorado . . . a minister of the United Methodist Church in Kansas East Conference . . . Director of the National Council Against Conscription, 1944-52 . . . Executive Secretary of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, 1953-60. . . since 1960, Professor of Christian Ethics at Saint Paul School of Theology, Kansas City, Missouri . . . a member of the Committee of Civil and Religious Liberty of the National Council of Churches, member of National Board of the American Civil Liberties Union, member of the General Board of Christian Social Concerns of the United Methodist Church . . . for 10 years editor of Current Issues . . . author of many books and articles including American Empire: The Political Ethics of 20th Century Conquest (Macmillan, 1970).

Allen J. Moore . . . native of Waco, Texas . . . B.A. from Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas, M.A. in sociology from Baylor University, B.D. from Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Ph.D. from Boston University . . . ordained Methodist minister, serving churches in Texas and Massachusetts . . . Administrative Director and Professor of Religion at Wesley Foundation and Bible Chair, North Texas State University and Texas Women's University, Denton, Texas. . . in 1958 became National Director of the Methodist Young Adult Work and Young Adult Research Project of the General Board of Education of the United Methodist Church . . . in 1963 joined faculty of School of Theology, Claremont, California . . . also Dean of Students there, 1964-68 . . . now Professor of Religion and Personality and Christian Education at Claremont and also member of Religion and Society faculty at Claremont Graduate School . . . published writings include over 100 articles.

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