Micaiah Bilger – Oct 15, 2021
A United Methodist Church leader is promoting the notion that killing an unborn baby in an abortion is okay as long as the mother makes a “thoughtful and prayerful” decision first.
Pastor Robert Vaughn Jr., director of the General Board of Church and Society for the UMC, told Baptist News Global that the denomination takes a “reluctant pro-choice” stance on abortion. And his board is in charge of supporting that position.
“Terminating a pregnancy isn’t just a medical decision; it requires advanced pastoral care so that a person can look at the whole picture,” the Herndon, Virginia pastor said. “The United Methodist principle requires you to think through a decision, to seize the whole complexity of the question. It’s not as simple as some easy slogan.”
Vaughn said he once counseled a young, pro-life woman who became pregnant while she was taking medication that meant “she couldn’t carry the pregnancy to term,” according to the report. Rather than give her child a chance at life, she aborted her unborn child – a decision that Vaughn said was “moral.”
“I remember walking with her as she and her family went through that situation,” he said. “… It was good to be part of a denomination that respected her as an independent moral decision-maker, that gave her the right to choose.”