While the biggest news to come out of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s 221st General Assembly in Detroit last week was the decision to allow clergy to officiate same-sex weddings in states where gay marriage is legal, pro-life groups are calling out the denomination for its weak stance on protecting babies who survive botched abortions.
By a wide margin last Thursday, the PCUSA's General Assembly voted 465 to 133 against a measure asking its members to reflect, for two years, on the plight of unwanted children, both the born and preborn.
The measure, brought before the members by the Presbytery of South Alabama, was spurred by the murder trial of Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell, as well as abortion clinic employees going public about unsafe and allegedly illegal practices that led to the temporary closure of a Delaware Planned Parenthood facility, among others.
"Evidently, denouncing infanticide and praying for children born after an abortion fails doesn't fly in today's Presbyterian church," asserted pro-life group Live Action. "All the measure was asking for was prayerful reflection, and to denounce the practice of killing babies born alive after abortion."
While the PCUSA's Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy stated that the church's concern for the unborn is clearly stated in its current policy on problem pregnancies and abortion, titled, "Do Justice, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly" (204th General Assembly, 1992), it also stated that members of the denomination "do not have substantial agreement on when human life begins."
The Presbytery of South Alabama stated in its measure that the "blood of little children cries out to God and to Christ's Church for protection and justice." And further noted that Gosnell's trial has forced Americans to look into Planned Parenthood and the abortion business for "tolerating medical abuse of both mothers and infants."