RevMom is correct. The only body that can speak for the UMC is the General Conference. People have a hard time understanding the governance of the UMC, because one would think that someone has a grip on these people, but the truth is that they don’t. They can be a loose cannon if that’s the way they’re inclined.
People who are not from an organized denomination don’t understand the history of our abortion position, so I’ve pretty much given up attempting to explain it. Suffice it to say that the current statement was intended by conservative Christians to boil choice down only to the “life of mother” position.
If you had seen what the statement was in the early 70’s, you would see that it has been chipped away at for decades now. When your governing body only meets one time every 4 years and that only for 2 weeks, then you get some idea how hard change is.
To be honest, just about the only denomination back then with an awareness of abortion was the Catholic Church, the most insightful of positions that they’ve held long before other denomination even got around to thinking about it.
Like I said, though, most aren’t interested in the history of how things develop the way they do.
ping to number 41.