BJCPA and Abortion

"I’ve been [with the BJCPA] almost 16 years. This agency has not made a statement, lobbied a legislator, joined an organization, signed a document, written an article or given a penny to promote abortion. We have stayed out of that fight. In fact, in a full board meeting in March of 1981, the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs voted that the staff should take no position and no action on the abortion issue." (emphasis ours) James Dunn, Executive Director of the BJCPA Report from the Capital, May 14, 1996, p.3 (For more information see "defense" section I)

In his book, "What Happened to the Southern Baptist Convention," Grady C. Cothen writes: "...under the directorship of James Wood, the [BJCPA] had taken a position that favored pro-choice on abortion. The contention was that abortion was a church-state issue. This was not a serious public issue in the SBC until the fundamentalist coalition took charge.

James Dunn became executive director almost at the same time as the takeover. He had an agreement with the search committee that the BJCPA would not publicly fight the abortion issue. (p. 355) (emphasis ours) (Cothen served as a Co-Chair of the BJCPA’s Religious Liberty Council) (For more information see "defense" section I)

In 1979, former BJCPA Executive Director James E. Wood Jr. signed a pro-abortion statement entitled: A Religious Statement on Abortion: A Call to Commitment. The document, published by the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights (RCAR), states: "The positions of our denominations on the matter of abortion are firmly rooted in our theological viewpoints and we shall not relinquish them to appease those who disagree with us."

The statement continues: "Our grave concern for our precious freedom of religion impels us to ask our organizations to consider abortion rights an issue of major concern, and to work vigorously to protect the option of legal abortion for all women. We pledge that in our positions of leadership we will make every effort to promote the pro-choice point of view..." (Baptist Press article, Oct. 23,1979 "Baptists Among Signers of Abortion Rights Statement" and "Call to Commitment") (emphasis ours)

Ten years later, under the leadership of James Dunn, the BJCPA’s 1989 Congressional Directory & Action Guide, listed RCAR under the heading "Resources for Political Education and Action." (For more information see "defense" section I)

In the January 1992 issue of Report from the Capital, the BJCPA’s official journal, the group’s Associate General Counsel, J. Brent Walker, recommended to their Baptists readers a book authored by Edd Doerr, vice president of the American Humanist Association and also vice president of the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights (RCAR). Entitled, "Church Schools and Public Money," the BJCPA’s Walker writes: "Everyone interested in public education and religious liberty should read this book. Baptists in particular will read it with enjoyment."

Reflecting blatant hostility toward Christian schools, the book argues that conservative, religious based schools "poses serious threats to women’s rights ... These schools, reflecting the views of their owners, generally teach that abortion is a grave sin..." (p. 137)

Doerr, a signer of Humanist Manifesto II and a former 16 year staff member at Americans United for Separation of Church and State, is now president of the American Humanist Association. As recently as July 23, 1996, an article by Edd Doerr was featured in the BJCPA’s Report from the Capital. (For more information see "defense" section II)

Two of the clearest examples of the BJCPA’s involvement with "pro-choice" organizations are People for the American Way and Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Though both organizations hold extreme pro-abortion positions, the BJCPA’s ties to Americans United (AU) date back nearly 50 years.

Founded in 1947, AU operated out of the garage of the BJCPA. All the BJCPA Executive Directors and numerous staff and board members have likewise served in official AU positions. Since the early 1980’s, current BJCPA Executive Director James Dunn, has served as a trustee at AU. Following is a brief history of AU’s pro-abortion activities:

Arguing that "Up to a third of the world’s women are trapped in a cycle of annual pregnancies," BJCPA Executive Director James Dunn called for support of the 1994 United Nation’s International Conference on Population and Development. In support of his population control position, Dunn quoted Nobel laureate Henry Kendall: "If we don’t control the population with justice, humanity and mercy, it will be done for us by nature - brutally."

In regard to "reproductive health care" for adolescents, Dunn writes: "...removing ‘legal, regulatory and social barriers to sexual and reproductive health information and care for adolescents’ frighten some institutionalists." (Report from the Capital, Aug. 9, 1994, p. 3)

The significance of the BJCPA’s position is that approximately five months earlier, the Clinton Administration’s Department of State sent an "Action Cable" to "all diplomatic and consular posts" stating: "The Clinton Administration views international population policy as a major issue in U.S. Foreign policy." The cable further stated: "The United States believes that access to safe, legal and voluntary abortion is a fundamental right of all women." (U.S. Department of State Telegram, dated March 1994. Also quoted in the Sept. 10, 1994 issue of World magazine.) (For more information see "defense" section IV)

In a May 1993 article stating that "Soul freedom' affirms the sacredness of individual choice," BJCPA Executive Director James Dunn argued that President Bill Clinton exemplifies a "real Baptist." Months earlier, on the third day of his administration, President Clinton’s religious/political convictions led him to issue five executive orders designed to: 1. Lift the ban on fetal tissue research; 2. Lift the ban on abortion counseling in federally funded clinics; 3. Begin the process of approving the importation of the abortion-inducing medication RU486; 4. Provide funds for the first time for abortions in military hospitals overseas and, 5. Lift the ban on homosexuals in the military. (Report from the Capital, May, 1993, p. 15 and Focus on the family newsletter, January 1994)

On April 10, 1996 President Clinton vetoed a bill designed to prohibit the gruesome "partial birth abortion" procedure. (Salt, Vol. 6, No. 1, 1996, an SBC-CLC publication) The BJCPA expressed no opinion.

In contrast, in a 1983 article, BJCPA Executive Director, James Dunn wrote of President Reagan’s pro-life position: "The complex issue of abortion is reduced to the simple cry of ‘infanticide’ by Mr. Reagan, who would ‘redress a great national wrong’ in the name of civil religion, making it virtually impossible for mothers to make their own decision in this very private, very religious matter." (Florida Baptist Witness, Aug. 25, 1983)

But of President Clinton, Dunn writes: "We have a profound respect for the sincere spiritual depth of Bill and Hillary Clinton..." (Report from the Capital, Feb. 1993, p. 10)

According to the Dallas Morning News, just prior to assuming his position at the BJCPA, James Dunn state that Religious Right "leaders have reduced extremely complex issues to ‘oversimplification.’ and ‘" They say abortion is murder. It is not that simple. There is dishonesty in oversimplification.’" (Dallas Morning News, Oct. 15, 1980, p. 1D) In another report, Dunn stated: "While the legalization of bingo may appear harmless at first glance, the negative social impact is clear." (Waco Tribune Herald, Oct. 30, 1980 p. 1A)

Speaking against the Human Life Amendment at the 1981 Christian Life Commission Seminar, BJCPA Executive Director James Dunn stated: "Disturbing to me are the thousands of therapeutic abortions received by children 10 to 15 years of age that would be stopped. All are victims of rape or incest - few promptly reported, none legal under the sort of laws proposed by hard-line anti-abortionist. ...One specific brand of theology would be written into the Constitution of the United States if the Human Life Amendment people had their way. It is a church/state issue when the sex ethic of one theology is pushed as the law of the land." (emphasis ours)

James Dunn, Executive Director, BJCPA

Proceedings of the March 23-25, 1981 CLC Seminar

(For more information see "defense" section I)