In January of 1973, I was a freshman in High
School. Such religious, moral, and legal decisions were not in the forefront of
my interests, and my memory has no recollection of how our local Baptist received
the news.[ii]
Recently I have read some articles that incline one to think the Baptists generally
were not opposed to abortion until much later.[iii] Certain
accurate historical facts may be pushed forward to support this scenario.
One of the leaders for abortion reform (aka legalization of abortion in cases of
rape, incest, or danger to a woman’s health) in the late 1960’s was Howard
Moody, who was the pastor of Judson Memorial Church in New
York, an American Baptist
congregation.[iv] Marie Griffith, in “Southern
Baptists, Gender Hierarchy, and the Road to Trump,” says that Baptists
in the late 1960’s and early 70’s “certainly appeared to see abortion as a
women’s issue. When the Supreme Court decriminalized abortion in 1973’s Roe v
Wade decision, Southern Baptist leaders appeared to support access to abortion,
at least under circumstances with which they could sympathize.”[v] In
1968, “the American Baptist Convention advocated the removal of all
restrictions on abortion during the first twelve weeks of pregnancy.”[vi] Billy Graham stated his
view on abortion in a 1969 episode of The
Firing Line. He was willing to permit it in cases of rape and incest, as
well as when the mother’s life was in danger.[vii]
At their meeting in St. Louis, Missouri in 1971,
the Southern Baptist Convention passed their first resolution the subject of
abortion. The resolution included calling “upon Southern Baptists to work for
legislation that will allow the possibility of abortion under such conditions
as rape, incest, clear evidence of severe fetal deformity, and carefully
ascertained evidence of the likelihood of damage to the emotional, mental, and
physical health of the mother.”[viii]
In what appears to be an older but officially
current statement, American Baptists opposed abortion “as a means of avoiding
responsibility for conception” and “as a primary means of birth control,” but
stopped far short of a blanket condemnation of abortion.[ix]
Several articles – unsourced – reference a Jerry
Falwell lament in 1979, “The Roman Catholic Church for many years has stood
virtually alone against abortion. I think it’s an indictment against the rest
of us that we’ve allowed them to stand alone.” Sans context, this certainly
seems to imply that Baptists had not previously opposed abortion, or at least
not to the extent that he was proposing – as well as being slow to take up the
issue (his statement 6 years after Roe v. Wade).[x]
Is this representation purposefully skewed?
Possibly so. My sense is that Baptists as a whole were divided on the issue –
and perhaps some had not given it much thought. Another factor is that many
Baptists did not believe in engaging in the political arena. In those cases,
they would not have been outspoken about abortion in any discussions that
smacked of politics. In contrast to the pro-abortion emphasis, I found that
some Baptists opposed abortion both before and immediately after Roe.
“The fundamental Baptist evangelist John R. Rice
declared in 1945 that abortion, which he considered ‘the murder of the little
one where conception has already taken place,’ was ‘a crime prohibited by law
and condemned by all decent people’.”[xi]
In 1970 ‘Christians for
Life’ – a non-denominational pro-life organization that would have
included Baptists – picketed a Billy Graham crusade because “Graham, although
opposed to abortion in most cases, was willing to permit it in cases of rape
and incest, as well as when the mother’s life was in danger.”[xii]
Carl F. H. Henry, a Baptist whose roots were in the
Northern Baptist Convention, in Eternity
magazine in 1971 called abortion “murder.”[xiii]
One opponent of the Roe decision whose opposition began almost immediately was
Jesse Helms, a Southern Baptist who was a freshman senator from North Carolina.[xiv]
Here are my initial ideas – beyond the fact that Baptists
were divided on the issue of abortion (which is always true of Baptists on any
issue!). First, it is obvious that certain moderate and progressive Baptists
were advocating loosening the laws against abortion. The reasons that other
Baptists may not have appeared in the forefront of opposition to abortion may have
been: (1) Since this was viewed primarily a legal matter, their opposition to
political involvement stymied their engagement of the issue. (2) Since abortion
was already illegal, it did not appear to be pressing to speak out against it.
(3) A general lethargy of the more conservative Baptists, from years of their
thinking on the matter having been the generally accepted one.
[i] “High Court Holds Abortion
To Be ‘A Right of Privacy’,” January 31, 1973, as cited in Baptist
Press Initial Reporting on Roe v. Wade, by Trevin Wax. Wax explains, “I
recently came across the initial reporting from Baptist Press on the Supreme
Court’s Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. Reading these documents made me so
grateful for the Conservative Resurgence in the SBC.” Wilkins
Barry Garrett Jr. (1915-2001) served as the first Washington bureau
chief of Baptist Press.
[ii] Any
of the local Baptists, Southern Baptist or otherwise. Our family church was
Missionary Baptist – not affiliated with the Southern Baptists – and I was not
a member of any church at the time.
[iii] “When
Southern Baptists Were Pro-Choice” by Joshua Holland and “My
Take: When evangelicals were pro-choice” by Jonathan Dudley are two
that seems to make that point pejoratively.
[iv] Defenders of the Unborn: The Pro-life
Movement Before Roe v. Wade, Daniel K. Williams, New York, NY:
Oxford University Press, 2016, pp. 65-66
[v]
Griffith also writes, “Ninety percent of Texas Baptists surveyed in 1969 had
affirmed that their state’s abortion laws should be loosened. A 1970 poll by
the Baptist
Sunday School Board suggested that 70 percent of SBC pastors upheld a
right to abortion to safeguard the mother’s health, 64 percent in situations of
fetal deformity, and 71 percent for pregnancies occurring from rape.”
[vii] Firing
Line with William F. Buckley, Jr., excerpt
from Episode 153, Recorded on June 12, 1969
[viii]
Resolution
On Abortion, St. Louis, Missouri, 1971. Wm. Robert Johnston archives
all the Southern Baptist Convention resolutions on abortion through 2009 HERE.
These and more recent resolutions can be located on the SBC website by entering
“abortion” in the Resolutions
Search.
[x] I do
not know what context in which Falwell made this statement. My guess is that he
may have been talking about opposing it legally and politically, rather than
biblically and morally.
[xi] Williams
adds, “But most Protestant ministers who were not fundamentalists said
nothing.” Defenders of the Unborn, p. 28
[xii] Ibid.,
p. 145
[xiii]
Ibid., p. 145
[xiv] Ibid.,
p. 213
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