General Convention of Episcopal Church USA
“No Restriction on Abortion”
By Jeff Walton
Abortion returned to prominence as a public policy matter at an increasingly reactionary Episcopal Church General Convention this week. The development follows the overturn of the Roe v Wade Supreme Court decision in June.
Episcopalians convening in Baltimore July 8-11 for their delayed governing body saw abortion take an unusually prominent role as lay and clergy deputies reacted against the recent Supreme Court ruling Dobbs v Jackson that returned abortion policy to states.
General Convention reasserted denominational support for legal abortion at any stage of pregnancy, but also defeated legislation condemning pregnancy resource centers. Abortion even influenced debate about a call for reconsideration of holding the 81st General Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, where the state is widely expected to stop most abortions in the coming days.
The Episcopal Church has supported legal abortion since 1967, before the 1973 Roe v Wade court decision struck down state laws restricting abortion. Bishops of the global Anglican Communion, of which the Episcopal Church is a part, recorded “abhorrence of the sinful practice of abortion” at the 1930 Lambeth Conference of Bishops.
First appeared at www.anglicanink.com
