by Mark Ellis
A clergy committee of Planned Parenthood is calling for “40 days of prayer and contemplation” on behalf of abortion. The initiative mirrors the “40 Days for Life” campaign that opposes the practice.
Among the prayer points are “for the families we’ve chosen,” and it encourages prayer in celebration of abortion, abortion doctors, and for “a cloud of gentleness to surround every abortion facility.”
The clergy group is linked to a Planned Parenthood in Humboldt County, California. It launched the gatherings to support “reproductive justice” March 18 through April 27.
The clergy group includes United Methodist, Episcopal, Reform Jewish and Unitarian Universalist clergy. The group plans an evening concluding the event at a local United Methodist church.
“For an organization that claims to be about women’s health, this Planned Parenthood prayer guide seems to focus exclusively on abortion,” said Mark Tooley, president of the Institute on Religion & Democracy.
“How sad that clergy who are supposed to protect innocent life instead try to sanctify death,” he said.
“Some day churches will repent for their complicity in the culture of death. Until then, all persons of good will should robustly defend all innocents who cannot defend themselves.”
The Institute on Religion & Democracy works to reaffirm the church’s biblical and historical teachings, strengthen and reform its role in public life, protect religious freedom, and renew democracy at home and abroad.
