Update 2019

The Adventist position on abortion has been revised, and in a good direction. How this will play out in the long term is not yet known. They have taken down their previous guidelines.

Pray for Adventism!

Useful commentary here:
The 2019 Seventh-day Adventist Abortion Vote – YouTube, Arthur and Teresa Beem

This page outlines the problem and provides what I think are the best resources on the interweb regarding the problem of abortion in the Seventh-day Adventist church.

Adventism’s official teaching on abortion is not pro-life. It permits abortion under any circumstances, without judgement. It acknowledges that it is a serious matter, but issues no definitive teaching that it is morally wrong. Adventism is willing to serve as the conscience for Christians when it comes to smoking and diet, but it refrains from doing so regarding abortion.

At least in North America, Adventist hospitals are significantly the major abortion providers amongst all Christian healthcare institutions. Most of Christianity will not permit abortions, yet Adventist healthcare permits and performs abortions for any reason throughout the entire duration of pregnancy.

That is less true for the rest of the world, where abortion legislation is far more conservative than in North America. Culturally, South America and Africa are less likely to support abortion, and that in turn determines the type of legislation in effect, and the degree to which hospitals – Adventist or otherwise – can engage in performing abortions.

Adventists, the people, are often pro-life, especially outside North America, and Adventists, the people, need to be differentiated from Seventh-day Adventism, the official church and its teachings.

While Adventist people may be pro-life, and thereby follow the commandment against murder, official Seventh-day Adventist teaching is not. This, as I’ve pointed out before, excludes Adventism from being a contender for the role of true remnant church, because Adventism itself claims that the true remnant church will follow ALL ten of the 10 commandments.

What is striking is that the Adventist church profits from the abortions performed in its healthcare institutions, and in fact La Sierra University has honoured America’s most prolific abortionist, Seventh-day Adventist Edward Allred, who claims to have aborted “hundreds of thousands of fetuses” – see the ADVindicate article for the credibility of this number.

Guides to Adventism and abortion

On Facebook:

Please like the Facebook page “Rosary Crusade to stop abortions in Seventh-day Adventist hospitals” and join the Facebook group “Pray for Seventh-day Adventists“.

Rosary Crusade Facebook page

Pray for Seventh-day Adventists Facebook group

Highlights from Nic Samojluk and Prolife Andrew

Highlights from Nic Samojluk:

What I Learned About Abortion & my SDA Church, by Nic Samojluk (2012)

• “When pressed for an official statement by the church back in 1970, Neal Wilson, the president of the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists at the time predicted that the church would adopt a pro-choice position regarding abortion, and rationalized said practice as a reasonable way to control the world hunger and population.”
• “The official Guidelines on Abortion document voted by the church seems to be a mixture of lofty pro-life statements mingled with pro-choice exceptions that render the apparently pro-life policy meaningless.”

Adventists & Abortion: Progress Report, by Nic Samojluk (2015)

• In order to reduce the abortions on their own books, some Adventist hospitals simply lease space to abortionists, making recent statistics hard to interpret

Adventist Church Opposes Death Penalty of Convicted Criminals, but Allows it for the Unborn?, by Nic Samojluk (2018)

Highlights from Andrew:

Adventist Church Official Position Statement on Death Penalty, by Prolife Andrew

Medical Journal says Adventists are “Schizophrenic” on Abortion, by Prolife Andrew

• A secular medical journal points out Adventism’s pro-abortion stance, peculiar to Christianity, referring to semantic gymnastics

Systemic Adventist Racism – Michael T. Nixon, Andrews University VP for Inclusion, by Prolife Andrew

• Adventist abortionist Edward Allred, the most prominent American abortionist, as aborted at least 87500 black babies, and gives discounts to Hispanic women who watch his Spanish TV adverts (but not English adverts)
• Allred has lifetime recognition on the Advisory Council of Spectrum Magazine
• He cites a fascinating around – Too Many Brown People? California Abortionists Target Latinos

Documentation on abortion statistics

Someone has done significant research into abortion in Adventist hospitals in the 1990s.  Correspondence and documentation below.

• Full PDF document
  • Letter to Ronald Wisbey Feb 15 1993
  • Reply from Sandra Jones Feb 22 1993
  • Reply from Ronald Wisbey March 22 1993
  • Reply from Ronald Wisbey March 22 1993 – attachment – Taking a Stand
  • Letter to Ronald Wisbey May 26 1993
  • Statistics WAH LMH SGH May 14 1993
  • Letter to Robert Folkenberg Sept 22 1993
  • Reply from BE Jacobs Sept 30 1993
  • Reply from Albert Whiting Nov 10 1993
  • Reply from Albert Whiting Nov 10 1993 – attachment – 1992 Guidelines
  • Letter to Albert Whiting March 14 1994
  • Statistics WAH SGH July 1992 – June 1993
  • Letter to Ronald Wisbey April 8 1994

Inspirational quote of the day

Population control is too important to be stopped by some right wing pro-life types. Take the new influx of Hispanic immigrants. Their lack of respect for democracy and social order is frightening. I hope I can do something to stem that tide; I’d set up a clinic in Mexico for free if I could … When a sullen black woman of 17 or 18 can decide to have a baby and get welfare and food stamps and become a burden to all of us, it’s time to stop. In parts of South Los Angeles, having babies for welfare is the only industry these people have.
– Edward Allred, Adventist abortionist and donor, on race and abortion, “Doctor’s Abortion Business Is Lucrative”, San Diego Union, 12 October 1980, at B-1, col. 1., via Live Action

Blood money and tithes

Blood Money in the Treasury, by Nic Samojluk (2016)

Finally, instead of tithing to the Adventist church, send your tithes to a prolife organisation.