United Methodist Church leaves pro-abortion group in 'major victory' for pro-life movement

The United Methodist Church has voted to leave the pro-abortion group Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC).

Delegates at the General Conference 2016 turned out an overwhelming vote of 425–268 in favor of leaving the coalition, which the United Methodist Church helped found in 1973. Afterwards, the Conference voted to delete Resolution 3204, which states the church's support for RCRC, and voter turnout was 561–197 in favor of deletion.

The RCRC, formerly known as the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights (RCAR), was founded soon after the Supreme Court instituted an individual's supposed constitutional right to abortion. The RCRC sought to protect this right.

However, in recent years, members of the United Methodist Church have questioned the church's abortion stance and membership in the coalition. In the 2008 General Conference, votes were cast to either retain membership in or leave the coalition, but those in favor of staying won by a small margin (416–384).

This year's vote turnout dissolving the church's membership in RCRC garnered praise from evangelicals.

"It's a major victory for all gospel Christians. Let's sing some Wesley hymns in solidarity," Russell Moore, president of Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said in a tweet.

A number of factors could have influenced the vote, according to Rev. Paul T. Stallsworth. One of them is the increasing number of the more conservative African delegates.

"African United Methodists, who tend to be more evangelical and orthodox in their faith, added to the number of those critical of RCRC," Stallsworth wrote in an article.

He added that many leaders of the United Methodist Church have become more aware and in opposition of RCRC's "radical advocacy for abortion."

John Lomperis, United Methodist director for the institute on religion and democracy, said that leaving the coalition is a "good step towards affirming that the unborn are persons of sacred worth."

"In contrast to the United Methodist Church, RCRC dismisses the value of unborn human life. RCRC even promotes rituals to bless all the work of elective abortion clinics, describing aborting unborn children as always 'holy work,'" Lomperis said, according to LifeNews.

The United Methodist Church believes in the sanctity of unborn human life. It does not accept abortion "as an acceptable means of birth control" or "gender selection," and it opposes late-term abortion except when the mother's life is endangered or the baby suffers from "fetal anomalies incompatible with life."