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| Good theology leads to choice |
Lots of Christians support keeping access to abortion safe and legal.
You might not know this fact because right-wing Christians are good at stealing the microphone and broadcasting the myth that pious people are "pro-life"--that the Bible is 100% in favor of pregnant women being forced to complete all pregnancies, even if their period is just a few days late.
They will say that Jesus was in favor of government enforcement of completing pregnancies.
They'll claim that the early church fathers would surely approve of policing women and doctors.
But the idea of a Christian consensus against abortion is a myth.
To find out the truth, read Abortion and the Christian Tradition: A Pro-Choice Theological Ethic (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2019) by Dr. Margaret D. Kamitsuka,
This book is not an easy read. Part One is a "Critique of Pro-Life Arguments" that covers the history of church views on abortion, the question of when "personhood" begins, the issue of when Jesus in the womb became a full person, and what church fathers and popes have said on these subjects.
For starters, just read my review of her book, which appeared yesterday on the website of Christian Feminism Today, www.eewc.com.
The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice is another proof that many Christians are out there working to keep access to abortion legally available and to prevent DIY abortions that endanger women's lives and health. Among the coalition are many churches, many Jewish organizations, Catholics for Choice, Muslim groups, and Hindu groups.
Many books have been written by Christian women who support the right of a pregnant woman to make her own choice about whether to continue her pregnancy for nine months.
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| The pro-choice book I edited under my former surname |
Among them is my 1994 book, Abortion--My Choice, God's Grace: Christian Women Tell Their Stories (Pasadena: Hope Publishing House). I began collecting stories for this book when a Catholic student of mine turned in an essay on abortion that included her experience of being raped by her brother-in-law and her decision to end the pregnancy.
The book begins with the story of another student at my college who was shot and killed on her wedding day in her beautiful white dress by an ex-boyfriend who didn't want her to marry someone else. That's the extreme of denying choice to women--"I own you, and I can kill you if I don't like your decisions." My book is still available from Amazon or on Kindle.
Some of the other Christian women who have written pro-choice books or articles include Rosemary Radford Ruether, Beverly Wildung Harrison, Sheila Briggs, Letha Dawson Scanzoni, and Marjorie Maguire (and her ex-husband Daniel). I've met all these women.
With anti-abortionists around the country trying to use the Covid-19 crisis as an excuse to deny pregnant women access to a safe and legal abortion, now is the time to read Dr. Kamitsuka's book. Pass along a link to my review. Contact your state legislators, Congressional representatives, and senators. Talk to your pastor.
So-called pro-lifers cannot be allowed to get away with lies about how the positions of various churches have changed over the centuries on ending pregnancy. Their lies about what early church fathers said on this issue must be stopped.
Fight to keep the government from deciding what you or someone you love will do with an unplanned pregnancy.
See also:
telemedicine abortion (prescribing medication)
telemedicine abortion in Britain
abortion access shifting during Covid-19 pandemic
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