Mennonite Weekly Review

During the “Summer of Mercy” anti-abortion protests in Wichita, Kan., in 1991, a Mennonite Brethren pastor in the city said he heard a wake-up call for his congregation. “We haven’t done what we can to prevent the murder of life,” Gordon Bergman told MWR. “I have urged the people to look to the Lord to see what we need to be doing.”

Eighteen years later, pro-life Christians find we still need to condemn the taking of life in the name of protecting it. Many did just that on May 31 after Wichita abortion provider George Tiller was murdered in his church. Tiller’s clinic was a flashpoint for the 1991 protests. According to news reports, he was one of only about three doctors in the country who provided late-second-trimester and early-third-trimester abortions. Tiller was shot in the head and killed in the foyer of Reformation Lutheran Church, where he was serving as an usher. Scott Roeder of Merriam, Kan., was arrested and charged with the crime.

After Tiller’s murder, those who may differ on the legality of abortion but share the goal of reducing it by addressing its root causes spoke with a united voice.

“This a crime, and there is nothing pro-life about it,” said Vicki Sairs, communications coordinator at Rosedale (Ohio) Bible College, affiliated with Conservative Mennonite Conference. Sairs will co-host a “pro-life, pro-peace” booth at the Mennonite Church USA convention in Columbus, Ohio, this summer.

“As a Mennonite, I reject violent solutions to social problems,” Sairs said in an e-mail. “I want to offer peaceful alternatives to abortion. I want to pray for and love people involved in the abortion industry, not demonize them as the enemy. I want to speak up for a consistent ethic of life that says everyone bears God’s image, and we will not desecrate that and we will not kill.”

Sairs observes that Mennonites reflect the lack of consensus on abortion in the United States. Some identify as pro-life, others as pro-choice, “and still others feel uneasy about coming down too dogmatically on one side or the other,” she said. “They don’t like abortion but do want it to be in place for women who are desperate.”

Sairs hopes for more constructive dialogue and action. “I would love to see North American Anabaptists come together and discuss what’s holding us back from a more consistent pro-life stance,” she said. Referring to a statement by President Obama in a May 17 speech at Notre Dame, she added: “I’d love to see us talk about what ‘fair-minded words’ we would like to use in the national discussion that our president has invited.”

Mennonites have the potential to model such fair-mindedness. One key to fairness is acknowledging the nuances in people’s views. For example, a 2003 MC USA statement calls abortion “counter to biblical principles” but does not take a position on abortion law. This approach can bridge divisions because it recognizes that the disagreement among Christians often centers on legality (“in what circumstances should abortion be restricted or criminalized?”) rather than on morality.

Mennonites also are well placed to bridge the divide that often separates anti-war and anti-abortion Christians. In 1991, Marvin Zehr, then a Wichita pastor, observed that some other local pastors were surprised when he pointed out that anti-abortion and anti-war activists cited some of the same Scripture verses to support their causes. That’s a solid foundation for a consistent ethic of life.