Marshall’s Blog | Crazy Mormon Lib

Last November, a Mormon friend of mine asked how I could support Obama considering his liberal stance on abortion. The following is a brief version of my reply. What most people don’t know – including most Mormons – is that Obama’s abortion stance is the most compatible with the official position of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Don’t believe me? Read on.

The Church’s Official Stance

Like most Christian denominations, Mormonism is clear in its denunciation of abortion. Mormons who procure, encourage, or support “elective abortions for personal or social convenience” can face disciplinary action and even excommunication. However, the Church believes that abortion may be appropriate and therefore worthy of legal protection under the following circumstances:

1. Rape
2. Incest
3. Health of the Mother
4. Life of the Mother
5. If a competent medical authority determines that the fetus won’t be able to survive beyond birth.

Reference

In all these circumstances, the Church counsels, a woman should proceed with an abortion only after “receiving a confirmation through earnest prayer.”

One of the guiding principles of Mormonism is personal revelation. It’s a belief that’s akin to the philosophy of the Transcendentalists: that everybody must find God for himself and work out his or her path based on that personal relationship and understanding. So, under certain circumstances, Mormons believe that God may actually sanction abortion. In such a case, it is the woman’s responsibility to determine God’s will concerning her pregnancy.

Mormons Don’t Believe that Abortion is Murder

When the Church refers to abortion, it often quotes our modern book of scripture, the Doctrine and Covenants, as it forbids things that are “like unto” murder.

An official Church statement in 1972 argued that since God has been silent on the matter of when life begins, we can assume that even elective abortion is “not the same class of crime” as murder.

Mormons Take the Biblical Approach to Abortion

The Bible only mentions abortion one time, and it’s surprisingly positive. Numbers chapter 5 describes how a priest can administer an abortion to a woman whose pregnancy is the result of infidelity. The abortion, however, relies on the Lord’s approval. The priest gives the woman “bitter water,” which acts as a divination as well as an abortive agent. If the pregnancy is illegitimate, it will be aborted. If not, the pregnancy will continue.

Of course, like many things that have endured centuries of editing and translation at the hands of men, this chapter reeks heavily of misogyny. Still, what we find consistent with the Latter-day Saint position and the Old Testament teaching is that under certain circumstances, God may actually expect a woman to get an abortion.

Republicans: Mormons are Pro-Abortion Extremists

Now that I’ve laid out the LDS position on abortion, which I think is extremely reasonable, I want to address the Republican and Conservative reaction to that position. It is that Mormons are “pro-abortion extremists.” Several anti-abortion groups have cried heresy at the implications of Divine approval for abortions in certain circumstances. Even Sen. John McCain made the charge during the last presidential debates. In this clip, you’ll hear Obama explain his position on abortion, which is practically identical to the Mormon position. McCain then mocks him and then says that “health of the mother” is the language of “pro-abortion extremists.”

Considering all this, the question is not how can a Mormon support Obama, but how can a Mormon support the Republican Party line on abortion. To criminalize abortions would, from a Mormon perspective, actually restrict freedom of religion. If a woman finds herself in a circumstance where an abortion might be necessary, and she prays to God, and God tells her to proceed, then it is not only her right to have a safe and legal abortion, but her duty. Any law that would restrict that would be an unjust law. As a Mormon, I accept the fact that many in the religious right would consider me a “pro-abortion extremist,” even though I would give everything I have to prevent an abortion from ever being necessary. This is why I voted for Obama, and this is why I can never support a politician who wants to criminalize abortion.