Methodist Pastor Attacks Pro-Life Americans, They’re Really Just “Pro-Birth”

A Nebraska Methodist pastor slammed pro-life advocates in a recent interview, claiming their “pro-birth” mission has “corrupted” Christians into thinking aborting unborn babies should be illegal.

Nebraska News Connection reports the Rev. Debra McKnight, founding pastor of Urban Abbey Methodist Church in Omaha, made the comment as state lawmakers prepare to debate a heartbeat bill Thursday. The pro-life bill would protect unborn babies by banning most elective abortions once their heartbeat is detectable, about six weeks of pregnancy.

McKnight claimed pro-life lawmakers do not really care about children or families. She argued that if they did care, they would pass bills to make childcare more affordable and improve maternal health care, according to the report. These are things many pro-life states already are doing.

“I would want to be clear that Christianity has a diversity of voices, and you don’t have to understand this ‘pro-birth’ narrative as the only appropriate Christian response,” the Methodist pastor said.

McKnight claimed pro-life advocates have “corrupted” Christians, especially evangelicals, into thinking abortions are wrong, the report continues.

She also erroneously claimed the heartbeat bill could jeopardize medical care for miscarriages. However, the bill only prohibits elective abortions; treatments for miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies and other conditions that put the pregnant mother at risk are allowed under the bill — and every other abortion restriction in the country.

Medical professionals confirmed this in testimony to state lawmakers earlier this year. During a February hearing, Dr. Robert Bonebrake, an OB-GYN and maternal fetal specialist, said the heartbeat bill protects both mothers’ and unborn babies’ lives, and does not hinder doctors from treating mothers with pregnancy complications, according to the Unicameral Update.

“LB626 lays out the clear standard for protecting a woman’s life and health,” Bonebrake said. “Any physician providing best medical practice is safe under this framework.”

Even with these clear protections, however, McKnight still opposes the bill. In February, she joined more than 100 other clergy members with the Nebraska Religious Council for Reproductive Freedom in signing onto a newspaper ad urging voters to oppose the life-saving bill.

The Nebraska Heartbeat Act (LB 626), sponsored by state Sen. Joni Albrecht, R-Thurston, is scheduled for debate Thursday on the Senate floor. If it passes, Nebraska would become the 16th state to protect unborn babies from abortion.

Currently, aborting unborn babies is legal for any reason up to 20 weeks. In 2021, 2,360 unborn babies were aborted and nearly two thirds were later than six weeks of pregnancy, according to the state health department.

State pro-life advocates also are urging Nebraskans to contact their senators and encourage them to support the bill. Nebraska has a single-body state legislature, and the bill appears to have just enough votes (a two-thirds majority) to overcome pro-abortion Democrats’ planned filibuster and pass.

A January poll by WPA Intelligence found 58 percent of Nebraskans support protecting an unborn baby with a beating heart from abortion.

As someone who was kicked out of a UMC church over a decade ago, I can't say loud enough how proud I am of you, your local church, so many other Methodist churches, and even the one that had kicked me out. I married into that church and didn't have multiple generations of my family attending the church like many of my fellow Methodists did. I'm well aware of how to people trying to implement a necessary reform, it feels more like you're going against the grain if you're in a multi-generational church setting like that and have a lot to lose by making too many waves. I say that as a compliment to Methodists like you who bucked the trend, much like Wesley himself did when he was part of the Holiness Movement.

I was kicked out when I learned that part of our general fund went to abortion lobbyists since the 1970's. When I learned of it, the General Board of Church and Society (the political lobby arm of the UMC) was starting to push the gay thing too. At first I thought the gay thing was a distraction meant to undo the efforts of the North Alabama conference leaders at the Miami general meeting (the Alabamians were a loud voice to disband the GBCS and the UMC's and GBCS's abortion efforts). So I was focused on the abortion element. Over about 6 months I asked too many questions with my local pastor, the retired pastor, and the elders in my church (I was in my 40's) and they told me to quit volunteering, to just show up on Sunday morning, attend service, and leave. I was in no way disruptive to the services; my discussions were at appointment times with the pastor and with pulling elders to the side for private conversations when we'd gather to eat and such. Yet their devotion to Moloch was too much to let a pro-lifer like me every now and then ask why our offing plate money paid to lobby that even pro-lifers financially support their employees' abortions. People like me were no longer allowed to lead men's Sunday school classes and lead children's church and volunteer at most youth services, even though I never brought it up in those settings. I just kept pushing mainly faith in Jesus, being humble in believing we're saved by grace, reading the Bible on our own, and being grateful enough to live it like we mean it (mirroring John Wesley's holiness teachings). So I quit attending and found another church that realizes Christianity is a participation sport, not a spectator sport.

I went back to the Methodist building one Monday evening for a Boy Scout event and was yelled at by the pastor. I asked him to take our discussion to his office on the other side of the building away from the scouts. While he yelled at me I didn't yell back, just calmly asked him how I should have handled things differently after I learned our offering plate money funded hedonism. He never admitted I was right. But eventually he cried, and asked me why I didn't stay with the church when it needed reform. I calmly told him he removed whatever influence I had with teaching people to live holy lives, and he made it clear reform at the higher levels (where the money was managed) wasn't going anywhere. But I could tell even while he was mad that he was a good man in an ugly situation. I believe some hedonist devout Democrats in our church threatened to make up a stink to mess up the pension he was expecting in his soon retirement. I'm not saying he was in the right. Just saying I respect that even a righteous man can be tempted to join dark forces when others grip you by the financial gonads. While crying, ye yelled at me to "walk out that door and never come back". I left and didn't go back into those church buildings until years later after he left. And even since then I've been there only a few times for things like funerals. I didn't have to say anything about the funding going to abortion and the push for gay. Everybody at the funerals knew and I knew without us having to say it. And I was hugged warmly by all but the devout Dims. I was especially hugged by the "kids" I remember from the years of children's church and youth group who are now adults.

A few months ago my neighbor, who still goes to that church, told me I'd be proud of the young adults who were the main push to get that local church out of the hedonistic UMC and into the GMC. He's 100% right. I am very proud!

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