Posted on 01/09/2004 1:48:07 PM PST by Fast 1975
The women bishops of the United Methodist Church have asked the members of Congress who are working on the foreign operations appropriations bills to fund the United Nations family planning program and to repeal the “gag rule.” The bishops have urged the House and Senate conferees to support the Senate version, which “upholds the importance of supporting women around the world and their reproductive health and access.”
In their letter sent November 11, 2003, the bishops said:
We write you as women of faith – a faith that calls us to show love and compassion to all peoples. In that spirit, we write to ask the Senate and House Conferees for the Foreign Operations Appropriations Bills to support the Senate version of the bill that includes language to repeal the ‘gag rule’ and also provides funding for the United Nations Population Fund. This Senate version upholds the importance of supporting women around the world and their reproductive health and access.
We are concerned about the increasing negative impact of the global gag rule on women – a rule that condemns many to lives of more poverty and pain, even to death, and to the bearing of children who suffer and die early from disease and starvation. The New York Times recently cited one example of the cruelty that this rule imposes. In Burundi, few births are attended by a trained midwife, and one woman in eight will die in childbirth. One woman in eight! Due to application of the global gag rule, an emergency obstetric care program that was to begin this year in Burundi has now been cancelled along with Plans for midwife training in Algeria and a maternal mortality reductions program in India.
Additionally, the withholding of funding for UNFPA results in a lack of family planning services and often brings on the very abortions the supporters of the withholding of funds claim to want to prevent. UN officials estimate the loss of United States funding could hinder their efforts to prevent 800,000 abortions and the deaths of 4,700 mothers and 77,000 children under the age of five. The funding shortfall would also hurt the agency’s international HIV/AIDS preventions efforts.
In the name of all that is just and compassionate, we urge you, as a conferee, to work for the enhancement of life for all women around the world by ensuring access to comprehensive reproductive health and family planning services. Thank you.
Sincerely,
The Women Bishops of The United Methodist Church
Sharon A. Brown Christopher Resident Bishop, Great Rivers Illinois Area, United Methodist Church Springfield, IL
Judith Craig Retired Bishop, United Methodist Church Powell, OH
Violet Fisher Resident Bishop, New York West Area, United Methodist Church Rochester, NY
Susan W. Hassinger Resident Bishop, Boston Area, United Methodist Church Lawrence, MA
Janice Riggle Huie Resident Bishop, Arkansas Area, United Methodist Church Little Rock, AR
Charlene P. Kammerer Resident Bishop, Charlotte Area, United Methodist Church Charlotte, NC
Leontine T.C. Kelly Retired Bishop, United Methodist Church San Mateo, CA
Linda Lee Resident Bishop, Michigan Area, United Methodist Church Lansing, MI
Susan M. Morrison Resident Bishop, Albany Area, United Methodist Church Albany, NY
Sharon Zimmer Rader Resident Bishop, Wisconsin Area, United Methodist Church Sun Prairie, WI
Beverly Shamana Resident Bishop, San Francisco Area, United Methodist Church West Sacramento, CA
Ann B. Sherer Resident Bishop, Missouri Area, United Methodist Church Columbia, MO
Mary Ann Swenson Resident Bishop, Los Angeles Area, United Methodist Church Pasadena, CA
| Rank | Location | Receipts | Donors/Avg | Freepers/Avg | Monthlies | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | South Carolina | 277.50 |
12 |
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201 |
1.38 |
68.50 |
8 |
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Well I am simple shocked, shocked I say!
How about the babies that are murdered? Where is the love and compassion for the murdered?
I wonder if they are so adamant about saving the whales and other endangered species?
No closet about it. The Social Principles of the Methodist Church calls for keeping abortion legal.
It is also an abomination.
I left the UMC 4 years ago when I finally realized what it was all about.
That's absolutely right.
The Social Principls, the Books of Resolution and Discipline are right from the hand of Karl Marx.
I believe it is safe to say that we all know that it does not...
...at least not to any of the unwanted unborn humans, anyway.
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