Evangelical Presbyterian Church

Official Denominational Website: https://epc.org/

Beginning of Life

Abortion

The Evangelical Presbyterian Church opposes abortion except in extreme cases when the life of the mother is in danger.

Official Statement: from Evangelical Presbyterian Church, "Position Paper: Abortion" (2013), 1-4.

"The Evangelical Presbyterian Church is convinced that the Bible strongly affirms the dignity and value of every human life based on what the Scriptures clearly teach...

The Evangelical Presbyterian Church affirms that the Bible does not distinguish between prenatal and postnatal life. It attributes human personhood to the unborn child. This extends to the unborn child ex utero as no less a human being than the child in the mother’s womb.

Because we hold these convictions concerning the unborn child, we urge the promotion of legislation that brings our judicial and legal systems into line with the scriptural view on protecting the poor, the weak, and the defenseless...

The Bible teaches that all persons and nations are responsible before God for their moral and ethical decisions, including those that relate to the preservation of human life. In addition to prayers and general assistance, the General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church urges that the following steps be implemented by the individuals, congregations, and judicatories in a concerted effort to provide substantial support for those impacted by problematic and/or unexpected pregnancies:

1. A woman facing a problematic pregnancy or an unexpected pregnancy should expect to receive support, love, acceptance and wise counsel from her pastor(s), counselor(s), physician(s) and fellow Christians. Regardless of the woman’s decision, the Church should always provide compassionate biblical and spiritual guidance to that individual.
2. The Church must serve as a loving and supportive community to any man involved to inform and direct him in his personal responsibilities and obligations as the child’s father. :#The Church must be supportive of the woman who chooses life for the child of an unexpected pregnancy and must seek ways to support and care for those children carried to term through unexpected pregnancy.
3. The Church must serve as a loving and supportive community to those who have experienced physical, emotional, or spiritual wounds as a result of undergoing an abortion or placing a child for adoption.
4. Christians should individually and corporately oppose abortion (except under the most extreme of circumstances that endanger the physical life of the mother), and do everything in their power to provide support groups, para-church ministries and sponsoring agencies that offer viable alternatives to abortion.
5. The Church should declare to the world and teach its members that abortion should never be used as a convenience or a means of birth control.
6. The Church should actively oppose the killing of human embryos through the extraction of stem cells for medical research or treatment.
7. The Church should oppose the practice of producing more embryos by in vitro fertilization than would be implanted in utero, which would either be destroyed immediately or stored frozen with the strong practical likelihood of later destruction." ("Position Paper: Abortion")