Santa Barbara Presbytery sent up an overture calling for restudy of abortion in a biblical and pastoral framework, apart from the public policy controversies. Their desire was to explore what the church has to offer to her own people as a moral voice and ministry in this area. The overture was quickly rejected with little debate. Perhaps the Assembly which was already being asked to deal with more controversy than it wanted looked for a way not to have to deal with abortion. This overture s request most certainly ought to come back to another General Assembly.
Abortion is treated as a social and political issue in our denomination.
It is first of all a moral, spiritual and pastoral issue, and it is on that level that we desperately need to deal with it. The final item on abortion came from the Advisory Committee on Litigation. That committee had wanted Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick to file an amicus brief in support of partial birth abortion when the matter came before the Supreme Court this spring. A brief was prepared and Kirkpatrick s office sent it to Baltimore Presbytery in hopes the presbytery would sign onto it. The issue became quite controversial.