United Church of Canada

I found this on the official United Church of Canada website: http://www.united-church.ca/beliefs/poli

cies/1980/c511

2. Abortion

1. We affirm the inherent value of human life, both as immature in the foetus and as expressed in the life of the mother and related persons. The foetus is a unique though immature form of human life and, as such, has inherent value. Christians should witness to that value by stressing that abortion is always a moral issue and can only be accepted as the lesser of two evils. Therefore, abortion is acceptable only when, after careful consideration, the medical, social, and/or economic situation makes it the most responsible alternative.
2. The previous law, which required a hospital therapeutic abortion committee to authorize an abortion was unjust in principle and unworkable in practice.
3. We do not support "abortion on demand." We believe that abortion should be a personal matter between a woman and her doctor, who should earnestly consider their understanding of the particular situation permitting the woman to bring to bear her moral and religious insights into human life in reaching a decision through a free and responsive exercise of her conscience

They also include this:

1. Massive Contraception Program

1. A child has a right to be wanted, so that it may have some assurance of this essential element in human development. Bringing unwanted children into the world is irresponsible.
2. Thus, family planning, including vasectomy and tubal ligation is Christian duty. Our Canadian society has to make every effort to ensure that contraception is the only completely acceptable form of birth control. Some practice of abortion is inevitable for the next few years while contraceptive techniques are imperfect and contraceptive ignorance is widespread, but the aim of all education, research and social pressure must be always to reduce the incidence of abortion and to promote effective contraception.
3. To anticipate the use of abortion as a form of birth control and therefore neglect to practise contraception is medically and morally deplorable and socially expensive. Such intentional use of abortion by individuals or governments is morally wrong.

That was from 1980 and they have expanded on the idea of the importance of sexual education in a more recent edict/declaration in 1990: http://www.united-church.ca/beliefs/policies/1990/a111

"WHEREAS prevention of abortion is best accomplished by the prevention of unwanted pregnancy, the aim of education, research and social action must always be to promote effective contraception and thus reduce the incidence of abortion;"

I think it's amazing that a religious group is able to step forward and say that even though they don't necessarily agree with abortion but understand that they cannot judge every situation or declare it absolutely evil. However, rather than just saying "yes, go ahead with the abortion" they are stressing the importance on sexual education so then contraceptives can be used more effectively. They even include the fact that they want better access to abortion clinics in Canada:

"WHEREAS many provinces have a high incidence of teenage pregnancy and Saskatchewan has one of the highest;

WHEREAS accessibility to abortion is inadequate in certain geographical areas in Canada as evidenced by:

• Prince Edward Island provides no access to abortion services;
• Newfoundland: one doctor in St. John's performs abortions;
• New Brunswick: no services north of Moncton;
• Nova Scotia: one Halifax hospital performs over 80 per cent of abortions;
• Quebec: 70-80 per cent of abortions are done in Montreal;
• Ontario: access concentrated in the southern cities;
• Manitoba: services available primarily in Winnipeg;
• Saskatchewan: women outside Saskatoon have little chance to obtain abortions;
• Alberta: abortions done in Edmonton, a few in Calgary, and fewer still in Lethbridge;
• British Columbia: situation precarious because of anti-abortionists elected to hospital boards; and

WHEREAS abortion is a medical act and the provinces are required to provide medical services according to federal standards of comprehensiveness and availability; and

WHEREAS under the Canada Health Act, the federal government can withhold health transfer payments from provinces which fail to provide medical services on a comprehensive, accessible, universal basis:

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the 33rd General Council:

1. urge the Government of Canada under the Canada Health Act to monitor the provinces' provision of contraception and abortion services in the light of federal adequacy standards of comprehensiveness and availability; and if found inadequate to pressure the provincial governments to bring these services up to Canada Health Act standards;
2. urge all conferences to request their provincial governments to provide adequate contraceptive and abortion education, counselling and services; and to report on their actions and results to the 34th General Council"

Not only are they acknowledging freedom of choice, they are trying to make a difference in how the government regulates abortion as well and are asking for more involvement to better provide this service to Canadian girls. I do not agree with government and religion mixing but I think this way, the United Church can be seen like any other activist or lobby group, not fighting for Church rights, but for women's rights.