Mennonites are one of the historic peace churches. Membership in the church can be used as evidence for conscientious objector status to the draft in the United States. The “New Call to Peacemaking” was a cooperative project of the three such churches (including Quakers and Church of the Brethren). Therefore, we at Friends Witness for a Pro-life Peace Testimony think that information on Mennonites may be of interest to Friends.
From Article 22 of the Mennonite Confession of Faith:
“Led by the Spirit, and beginning in the church, we witness to all people that violence is not the will of God. We witness against all forms of violence, including war among nations, hostility among races and classes, abuse of children and women, violence between men and women, abortion, and capital punishment.”
Mennonite Official Statement on Abortion:
The 2003 Official Statement on Abortion has commentary on these and addition points, plus an extensive list of suggested reading:
I. We believe
- Human life is a gift from God to be valued and protected. We oppose abortion because it runs counter to biblical principles.
- The fetus in its earliest stages (and even if imperfect by human standards) shares humanity with those who conceived it.
- There are times when deeply held values, such as saving the life of the mother and saving the life of the fetus, come in conflict with each other.
- The faith community should be a place for discernment about difficult issues like abortion.
- Abortion should not be used to interrupt unwanted pregnancies.
- Christians must provide viable alternatives to abortion that provide care and support for mothers and infants.
- The church should witness to society regarding the value of all human life.
- Professionals whose ministry involves dealing with the moral dilemmas of abortion and reproductive technologies need our support.
III. We confess
- We have failed to offer a clear voice affirming life as an alternative to our society’s frequent reliance upon abortion as the solution to problem pregnancies.
- We have failed to show compassion for those who are suffering the consequences of abortion.
- We have failed to work for a just health care system that would assist poor families in caring for their children.
As part of the commentary:
We commit ourselves to work for a just health care system that will assist poor families in caring for their children.
Because we are concerned about just health care for all, we will:
- Recognize that protests against abortion have greater integrity when they are combined with concern for all human life.
- Commit ourselves to work for a just health care system that will assist poor families in caring for their children, thus eliminating conditions that help create a culture of abortion.
Mennonite Quotations
In this study, I have traced the ethic of the pre-Constantinian church through a series of individual moral issues related to the taking of human life, and have found that, without exception, the church strongly condemned the taking of human life in any form whatsoever. Neither homicide, nor feticide, nor infanticide, nor suicide, nor capital punishment, nor killing in war were considered acceptable to a church fiercely committed to following the teaching and moral example of the incarnate Lord.
— Robert Arner, Consistently Pro-Life: The Ethics of Bloodshed in Ancient Christianity
Beyond the potential physical and psychological harm, our society’s open abortion policies contribute to a social ethos that is not good for women. For example, many women, perhaps even the majority of women, have an abortion in part because someone is pressuring them to do so. The pressure can be relatively subtle, such as withholding emotional support or expressions of love until the woman agrees to have the abortion. Shockingly often, however, the pressure comes in the form of threats, such as threats that the male partner will leave the relationship or that the family will kick the woman out of the house unless she gets an abortion. This pressure, both in more subtle and in explicit forms, comes from parents, boyfriends, friends, employers and even health clinic workers.
When women face this type of pressure, at a time when they are often quite vulnerable, it is unclear what type of “choice” they are making. It certainly is not the empowering, autonomous choice implied by the pro-choice movement. Moreover, while women undoubtedly faced similar pressures in an earlier age, our society’s permissive view of abortion as a “solution” to an unintended, untimely pregnancy lends itself to this type of pressure. After all, those exerting pressure can see themselves as encouraging a socially approved fix to a problem, even viewing the pregnant woman who refuses abortion as acting irresponsibly.
— Joseph J. Kotva Jr., “The Question of Abortion: Christian Virtue and Government Legislation,” The Mennonite Quarterly Review (October, 2005), pp. 490-491
We do not, and should not, view the woman in the image of her attacker [from a rape] or through the lens of the crime against her. Instead, she is to be viewed in the image of God her maker. She is originally a child of God, irreducible to an object of violence, and thus to be cared for as precious rather than cast out as disgraced. Likewise, we do not, and should not, view the attacker primarily in the image of his crime; instead, he also is to be viewed in the image of God. He, too, is seen in light of the redemption and reconciliation possible in Christ. Why, then should we suppose that the unborn child, though conceived in violence, is to be viewed in the image of the attack, and thereby effectively reduced to that act of violence? The unborn child, despite the circumstances of conception, nonetheless presents most originally an embodiment of the face of God.
— Darrin W. Snyder Belousek, “Toward a Consistent Ethic of Life in the Peace Tradition Perspective: A Critical-Constructive Response to the MC USA Statement on Abortion,” The Mennonite Quarterly Review (October, 2005), p. 455
Display at the Mennonite national convention.