Presbyterians told to ‘vote with their conscience’
THE Presbyterian Church in Ireland said its members and ministers should “vote in accordance with their conscience” in the referendum on the Eighth Amendment.
In a letter to its members, the Presbyterian Church recognised that there were different views within its membership, but said its position is for the amendment to stay in the Constitution.
It says that having monitored developments over recent months “the General Council of our Church, acting with the authority of the General Assembly, has concluded that meaningful protection for the unborn can only be secured if the Eighth Amendment is retained in the forthcoming referendum”.
Regressive
But the Presbyterian Church has admitted there are differing views within its membership on abortion, particularly in relation to “exceptional circumstances in which the termination of pregnancy may be necessary”.
However, it added: “We consider the proposals for unrestricted access to abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy to be regressive, incompatible with human dignity and morally unacceptable.”
Every active Presbyterian minister in the jurisdiction was written to on the matter.
The letter was written by senior ministers Moderator Rt Rev Dr Noble McNeely, Minister Emeritus of Lucan Presbyterian Church Dr Trevor Morrow, and Clerk of the General Assembly Rev Trevor Gribben.
They said: “We encourage Church members to consider these matters prayerfully and with great care over the coming weeks and to vote in accordance with their conscience.”
The ministers added that in January representatives of the Presbyterian Church had written to members of the Oireachtas “affirming the value of every human life, emphasising the importance of care for women, children and families in times of crisis”.
The Presbyterian Church has 13,000 members across 97 congregations in the Republic.