FUMC Melrose Statement on the Supreme Court decision of 6/24/22 overturning Roe v. Wade

Guided by faith and moved by the presence of God’s abiding love, the leadership team of the First United Methodist Church of Melrose condemns the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade and calls upon our leaders and fellow citizens to restore the rights to bodily autonomy that have been so callously ripped from every woman and girl in our nation. As of June 24, 2022, every female in the United States is a second-class citizen with fewer rights than our male brethren.

Our denomination has long wrestled with the moral, medical, and emotional complexity inherent in all decisions concerning reproductive healthcare. With that in mind, we must conclude that a sweeping mandate to ban abortion, whether imposed by the federal government or by individual states, by its nature robs all women of God-given rights to make healthcare choices about their own bodies that should be influenced only by sound medical expertise and the woman’s own heart.

While the court’s decision cruelly disregards the wellbeing of all women, it will especially hurt women and families who are already impoverished and marginalized. Most American women who seek an abortion are living below or near the poverty line and already have at least one child. In our post-Roe world, the very women most in need of reproductive healthcare will be unable to receive it, and their families will sink ever deeper into poverty.

As Christians, we worship a God who created us to love one another and build a heavenly kingdom here on earth. The founder of our faith tradition, John Wesley, enjoined his followers to first do no harm, and then go forth and do good. This decision does incalculable harm to half of the population of our country and no good will come of it.

We urge the citizens of the United States to work for true justice for all people and to protest against this decision stripping women of their fundamental right to decide what happens to their bodies. We urge women especially, and all citizens to make their voices heard with their elective representatives and at the ballot box to restore the inherent rights that were stripped away on June 24th by the Supreme Court. We call for Federal laws protecting a woman’s right to choose what happens with her own body and we call for a Constitutional amendment recognizing women’s equality with men.

Signed by the members of the FUMC of Melrose Leadership Team:

Sue Triggs-Rhuda
Jim Bennett
Wendy Warren
Jana Gimenez
Regina Lucas
Tom Stewart
Charlie Rhuda

Bert Whittier

Nancy Cahill

Pastor Travis Bonnette-Kim