During the morning business session of our 42nd General Assembly on Friday, June 24, we learned that the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in a 6-3 decision. The Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson that there is no right to an abortion in the Constitution, and thereby returned the question of abortion to the states. At the beginning of our afternoon business session, we stopped to acknowledge this historic moment. Then Bonnie Gatchell, Teaching Elder from the Presbytery of the East who leads a ministry in Boston to exploited and vulnerable women, led us in prayer.
As a completely and consistently pro-life denomination, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church rejoices with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. We rejoice in the Supreme Court’s decision, yet we grieve the estimated 63 million lives1 tragically lost since the passage of Roe v. Wade in 1973. We rejoice in all decisions that support the most vulnerable and defenseless. We also weep with those whose lives have been deeply affected by such suffering and pain, including women who have experienced rape and sexual abuse.
As the EPC’s Position Paper on Abortion states,
“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.”
And…
“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.”
And…
“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.”
As a denomination of more than 630 churches, we affirm that all human life is sacred—from the “womb to the tomb.” We affirm that all human life is created in the Imago Dei (Image of God). We affirm that as followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to offer substantial support for those impacted by problematic and/or unexpected pregnancies.
In the days to come, we call upon all members of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church to pray and renew our efforts to speak the truth in love, to create loving and supportive communities, and to provide substantial support for those impacted.
To read the EPC’s Position Paper on Abortion in its entirety, see www.epc.org/files/positionpaper-abortion.
EPC National Leadership Team:
Brad Strait (Chairman)
TE, Presbytery of the West
Earla Bethel
RE, Presbytery of Florida and the Caribbean
Brian Evans
RE, Presbytery of the Midwest
Michael Flake
TE, Presbytery of the Central Carolinas
George Hertensteiner
RE, Presbytery of the Great Plains
John Ivy Jr.
RE, Presbytery of the Central South
Victor Jones
RE, Presbytery of the Gulf South
Patrick King
TE, Presbytery of the Pacific Southwest
Linda McDaniel
RE, Presbytery of the West
Neil Smith
TE, Presbytery of the East
Carolyn Poteet
TE, Presbytery of the Alleghenies
Dave Strunk
TE, Presbytery of the Southeast
Rosemary Lukens, 42nd GA Moderator
RE, Presbytery of the Pacific Northwest
Joe Kim, 42nd GA Moderator-elect
TE, Presbytery of the East
Dean Weaver, Stated Clerk
TE, Presbytery of the Alleghenies
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1Statistics from the National Right to Life Committee’s tracking of CDC and Guttmacher Institute data.
Episode 32 of the EPC’s podcast, “In All Things,” features Dustin Leimgruber, EPC Teaching Elder and author of 
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