Rational American/Christian Pastor in Step with Our Founding Generation Supports Abortion Issue One in OHIO

[NotfooledbyW]

VOICES: I support Issue 1 because of my faith, not in spite of it By Rev. Terry Williams Nov 5, 2023

I am a Christian minister and life-long Ohioan. As an ordained pastor of the United Church of Christ, I have been blessed to journey through hundreds of exceedingly joyous occasions in the lives of congregants and believers. Likewise, I have also supported many hundreds of families through some of the most difficult moments imaginable.

In my years of pastoral service, joyous events like baptisms, weddings, and confirmation celebrations have intermixed regularly with fatal car accidents, life-threatening diseases, terminal cancer, and pregnancies that were much wanted but tragically lost.
VOICES: I support Issue 1 because of my faith, not in spite of it pblshd.23.22.05
The whole of my pastoral experience, seasoned with a humble reverence for holy scripture, compels me to vote “yes” on Issue 1 in November. Issue 1 is about putting Ohioans back in charge of their families’ personal medical decisions – and that’s exactly where my Christian faith tells me they belong.

The Ohio Constitution should empower all people to decide for themselves whether, when, and how they become parents. Issue 1 will ensure that Ohio protects the fundamental rights of our citizens to control their own bodies, because no one should be forced — by the government, or by someone else’s faith convictions — to give birth in a free and prosperous Ohio.
ExploreVOICES: Ohio voters deserve facts on Issue 1
Abortion can often be a complex moral issue, and it is one best addressed by the person whose body biologically bears the greatest weight of responsibility – that of the pregnant person themselves. I know of no person who has approached such a choice casually or without profound personal convictions. Patients deserve the right to make their own medical decisions without having their bodies catapulted into battlefields of political and religious warfare that ignore their agency and demean their humanity.
I support a “yes” on Issue 1 because of my faith, not in spite of it. As a minister of the United Church of Christ, my denomination has for many decades supported abortion access and the right of all persons to choose whether to terminate a pregnancy. My religious convictions are clear: abortion bans are against my religion.

While this is my belief – and one shared by the vast majority of my pastoral colleagues across the state – I understand there are people with sincerely held religious beliefs regarding abortion that differ from my own beliefs. It is for this very reason that I wholeheartedly support Issue 1. Issue 1 keeps decisions about abortion out of the hands of politicians and permits all religious believers the freedom to exercise their own faith convictions without fear of state-sanctioned censure or tyranny.

Since Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022, we have all heard many heartbreaking stories of patients struggling to access basic reproductive care in the face of legal uncertainty and government indifference. Pastors across our state have, for many years before 2022, witnessed in gruesome detail how extreme abortion bans have harmed the lives of generations of Ohioans, putting lives at risk and forcing patients to leave our state in order to get the care they need. We have the opportunity to end this needless suffering and to return to the hands of the people of Ohio the authority due each of us with respect to our own moral choices around matters of abortion, birth control, and other reproductive matters.

We have the power to restrain runaway government and to restore to patients the ultimate authority over their bodies and their futures. Because of my Christian faith – and not in spite of it – I urge Ohioans to join me in voting “yes” on Issue 1 on November 7.

Rev. Terry Williams is an organizer with Faith Choice Ohio. He is a pastor and an Ordained Minister of the United Church of Christ.

Ohio 1 will protect women from the extremist religious right of the Republican Party.

There is no shame in being prochoice when you are a Christian.

How many prochoice Christians are on this USMB?

Thsnk God Ohio Issue 1 will pass today.

nf.23.11.07 #1

 

[Manonthestreet]

That Pastor is in for a surprise when he meets his Maker

 

[theHawk]

There is no shame in being prochoice when you are a Christian.

Really?

Where in the Bible does it say abortion is okay?

 

[initforme]

That Pastor is in for a surprise when he meets his Maker

Aren't we all? The voters will decide. Not one pastor. This will be close either way. Close elections are a sign of a healthy nation. ⁸

 

[August West]

Really?

Where in the Bible does it say abortion is okay?

The Bible is a book written by men in ancient times and it instructs slaves to obey their masters. I was taught by nuns for 8 years and we didn`t do the Bible thing.

 

[August West]

That Pastor is in for a surprise when he meets his Maker

The same could be said about anyone who voted for Trump.

 

[Manonthestreet]

Aren't we all? The voters will decide. Not one pastor. This will be close either way. Close elections are a sign of a healthy nation. ⁸

What voters decide has nothing to do with Pastors statement

 

[Lesh]

What voters decide has nothing to do with Pastors statement

You might be surprised

 

[1srelluc]

VOICES: I support Issue 1 because of my faith, not in spite of it By Rev. Terry Williams Nov 5, 2023



Ohio 1 will protect women from the extremist religious right of the Republican Party.

There is no shame in being prochoice when you are a Christian.

How many prochoice Christians are on this USMB?

Thsnk God Ohio Issue 1 will pass today.

nf.23.11.07 #1

Please to flesh out Issue 1 for us non-Ohioans.

 

[Lesh]

Please to flesh out Issue 1 for us non-Ohioans.

Is your google machine broken?

 

[Lesh]

Issue 1 is a ballot measure that, if approved, would change the Ohio Constitution to include protections for abortion access. According to ballot language, the measure would establish in the state constitution "an individual right to one's own reproductive medical treatment," including to make decisions on abortion, contraception, fertility treatment, continuing one's own pregnancy and miscarriage care.


If approved, the amendment, titled "The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety," would protect any person or entity that helps a patient receive reproductive medical treatment and prohibit Ohio from "directly or indirectly burdening, penalizing or prohibiting abortion" before viability, generally considered to be between 22 and 24 weeks of pregnancy.

 

[1srelluc]

Is your google machine broken?

The way I see it is if a person wants us to know WTF he's talking about he will link it himself.

 

[initforme]

Is it expected to pass or fail? What's the prediction?

 

[1srelluc]

Issue 1 is a ballot measure that, if approved, would change the Ohio Constitution to include protections for abortion access. According to ballot language, the measure would establish in the state constitution "an individual right to one's own reproductive medical treatment," including to make decisions on abortion, contraception, fertility treatment, continuing one's own pregnancy and miscarriage care.


If approved, the amendment, titled "The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety," would protect any person or entity that helps a patient receive reproductive medical treatment and prohibit Ohio from "directly or indirectly burdening, penalizing or prohibiting abortion" before viability, generally considered to be between 22 and 24 weeks of pregnancy.

I'd prefer 15 weeks but I'd vote for that.....I see the utility of abortion.

 

[BULLDOG]

Really?

Where in the Bible does it say abortion is okay?

Where does it say abortion is denied?

 

[theHawk]

Where does it say abortion is denied?

Leviticus 24:17 Whoever takes the life of any human being shall be put to death;”

Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you…”


So if you want to play dumb on the issue and think that God is okay with women killing perfectly healthy babies in their wombs…..well good luck with that in the afterlife.

 

[Missouri_Mike]

Where does it say abortion is denied?

Thou shalt not kill.

 

[Lesh]

Thou shalt not kill.

And yet you’re all about killing those you choose to

 

[CowboyTed]

VOICES: I support Issue 1 because of my faith, not in spite of it By Rev. Terry Williams Nov 5, 2023



Ohio 1 will protect women from the extremist religious right of the Republican Party.

There is no shame in being prochoice when you are a Christian.

How many prochoice Christians are on this USMB?

Thsnk God Ohio Issue 1 will pass today.

nf.23.11.07 #1

I am a Christian and pro-choice...

It is about freedom, I have no right to tell other people there freedoms when they are my beliefs...

I am more of a big print christian, it is far more important to 'Love thy Neighbour' than Abortion which seems to buried in the bible and never mentioned by Christ.....

Personally I think the Evangelicals are only reading parts of the Bible they like rather than taking the actual meaning of it... Jesus would have only distain for Trump, lets be very clear about that.. Jesus was about helping the poor, Trump is about laughing at them.

I am not expecting perfection in our representatives but I expect them to tone down the hypocrisy. Sorry but the GOP can't claim to be on the side of Jesus with there attitude towards the poor and downtrodden..
Being a Christian means following the teachings of Christ, that is actually hard, it involves turning the cheek and helping without judgement. It is not being a member of Church (tribe) and following the rules of the tribe.

 

[Mac-7]

VOICES: I support Issue 1 because of my faith, not in spite of it By Rev. Terry Williams Nov 5, 2023



Ohio 1 will protect women from the extremist religious right of the Republican Party.

There is no shame in being prochoice when you are a Christian.

How many prochoice Christians are on this USMB?

Thsnk God Ohio Issue 1 will pass today.

nf.23.11.07 #1

The Ohio Constitution should empower all people to decide for themselves whether, when, and how they become parents

That choice, along with life and our humanity, begins at conception

Once a life is created it must be protected