ELCA Exposed News on Abortion
Analysis of the ELCA Position on Abortion
We commend the tens and hundreds of thousands of members of the ELCA who have held steadfastly to the teaching of the Bible and the historic Christian commitments regarding the sanctity of human life. We know they are grieved by the strange doctrine and teaching, which advocates the killing of innocent, unborn children, into which many bishops, pastors, and other leaders have taken their church.
. . .A member of the ELCA inquired of the Board of Pensions as to whether they would pay for an abortion for the purpose of sex selection. That board stated that they would pay for an abortion for that purpose. The secretary of the ELCA confirmed this conclusion. . . |
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ELCA Churchwide Assembly Minutes 1997 (p. 774-784)
(In the action below the ELCA rejected putting any restrictions on the abortions the ELCA health insurance covers)
Yes–271; No–651
DEFEATED: To amend the recommendation of the Memorials Committee by
substituting the following for paragraph five:
To express to the Church Council that the spirit of this
Churchwide Assembly is that the ELCA Health Plan should pay
for induced abortion of pregnancy only in cases that involve
pregnancy that results from the violence of rape or incest, or
serious threats to the physical health of the mother, or
abnormalities of the embryo or fetus that are incompatible with
life.
Yes–271; No–651
DEFEATED: To amend the recommendation of the Memorials Committee by
substituting the following for paragraph five:
To express to the Church Council that the spirit of this
Churchwide Assembly is that the ELCA Health Plan should pay
for induced abortion of pregnancy only in cases that involve
pregnancy that results from the violence of rape or incest, or
serious threats to the physical health of the mother, or
abnormalities of the embryo or fetus that are incompatible with
life.
ELCA Churchwide Assembly Minutes 2001 (p. 360-366)
Three ELCA Synods asked the ELCA "to direct the Board of Pensions
to enact regulations that would limit payment for abortions to those exceptional cases where the life of the mother is threatened, where the pregnancy resulted from rape, incest, or where the embryo or fetus has lethal abnormalities incompatible with life."
But the Memorials Committee made a recommendation that was moved and seconded. It said ". . .To decline to direct the Church Council of the ELCA to undertake at this time alteration of the terms of the medical plan for church workers that is
administered through the Board of Pensions."
The Assembly voted on the Memorials Committee recommendation. It passed, Yes–815; No–125
to enact regulations that would limit payment for abortions to those exceptional cases where the life of the mother is threatened, where the pregnancy resulted from rape, incest, or where the embryo or fetus has lethal abnormalities incompatible with life."
But the Memorials Committee made a recommendation that was moved and seconded. It said ". . .To decline to direct the Church Council of the ELCA to undertake at this time alteration of the terms of the medical plan for church workers that is
administered through the Board of Pensions."
The Assembly voted on the Memorials Committee recommendation. It passed, Yes–815; No–125
The ELCA's Abortion Policy: What Other Lutherans Have Said
| the_elca_abortion_policy1.pdf |
So That a People Not Yet Created May Praise the Lord: Christian Churches and Abortion
. . .The ELCA backs up its philosophical endorsement of abortion with an extremely permissive health care policy. That is, its employee health benefits plan is willing to pay for all abortion procedures performed during the first five months of pregnancy, no questions asked. . .
Pro-Life Resolutions Help Provide a Clearer Picture of the ELCA’s Pro-Choice Stance
. . .I recommend you take a few minutes to read the linked documents. . . as they provide a clear picture of the ELCA’s true positions on abortion and the life of an unborn child. . .
The ELCA and Abortion
. . .Abortion for birth control. Abortion for sex selection. Abortion as a “morally responsible” choice. Abortion as a covered “service” in its own employee health care plan. It was astounding to me that I belonged to a church that could not definitively condemn any of these. It also seemed to me, as I pondered the implications of the SSOA, that the ELCA had forgotten that “support” of a person does not translate into “support” for that person’s bad choices. . .
Lutherans are for Life
. . . ELCA co-owns a Chicago hospital called Christ. It was there that nurse Jill Stanek discovered little victims of live-birth abortions who had been placed in the broom closet in cold metal pans-there to gasp out their young lives in the darkness. Jill held these suffering children as they died, praying for them and singing to them. For her pains, Jill was fired by the administrators of this hospital. . .
In Budget Battle, Church Officials Fast against Cuts, Silent on Planned Parenthood
“Why are church groups denouncing budget cuts for reputedly hurting the poor but SILENT about public funding for Planned Parenthood and Medicaid abortions in D.C.?”
Atrocity: Many Churches Support Abortion
. . .Evangelical Lutheran Church In America's Social Statement On Abortion is an exercise in hypocrisy and nothing more than an attempt to please everyone involved except the unborn. . .
Jill Stanek "We Are Not Garbage" by Rev. Gary Blobaum
(Sermon given March 30, 2011)
Is the ELCA Really the Kind of Church It Claims to Be?
. . .The following litany pairs quotes from the ELCA’s Social Message on Immigration, issued in November 1998, with the message conveyed by the ELCA’s Social Statement on Abortion and its employee health benefits plan, which will pay for any and all surgical abortion procedures performed during the first five months of the unborn child’s life, no questions asked. . .
Leaving the Culture of Death Behind
. . .After my pro-life conversion, I wanted to tell the world about the senseless slaughter. When I shared my story with our pastor, he kept badgering me about who would take care of the crack babies and who would adopt all these children. Eventually, my pastor reminded me that the ELCA has a pro-choice policy. . .
The March for Life and the Tale of Three Lutheran Churches
. . . (the ELCA) had never produced pro-life literature, joined any pro-life organizations, encouraged local congregations to observe the annual pro-life Sunday (this past year on January 20, right before the march), promoted participation in state or national marches, nor advocated for pro-life policies in any of its state or national advocacy offices. As far as the ELCA is concerned, there is dead silence on the matter. . .
