Baptist Churches Modify Stance on Abortion; Diversity of Opinion Cited

The American Baptist Churches, generally considered the most liberal of the country’s many Baptist denominations, has pulled back from its 7-year-old stance that abortion is a matter of personal decision.

Meeting in Green Lake, Wis., the church’s policy-making General Board voted this week to adopt a new resolution on abortion that acknowledges a diversity of opinion within the church but removes much of the language in a 1981 resolution that stressed respect for “the integrity of each person’s conscience.”

Instead, the church’s new policy statement stresses life as the “sacred and gracious gift of God” and the need to avoid abortion wherever possible--through education on contraceptive techniques, the avoidance of sex outside marriage and increased support mechanisms for children who are potentially available for adoption.

The new resolution passed by a margin of 161 to 9, with two abstentions. Church officials said grass-roots pressure within the church increasingly had viewed the position as too liberal.

The action follows by two years the American Baptist Churches’ decision to cut ties with the Washington-based Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights. The denomination is believed to be the first mainline Protestant church to have retreated from a strong pro-choice position.