Earlier this month, Georgia’s Emory University hosted a lecture based on the idea that abortion is a morally good option.
The lecture, titled “Reframing Choice: Abortion as a Moral Good,” was delivered by guest lecturer and Christian feminist professor Dr. Rebecca Todd Peters, of Elon University. Peters is the author of Trust Women: A Progressive Christian Argument for Reproductive Justice. According to the book’s description, Peters argues that racism and patriarchy are ultimately responsible for the judging and shaming of women who choose to have abortions.
“The starting point of our ethical conversation should be women’s lives, [yet] the problem that we face in this country is our failure to trust women to act as rational, capable, responsible moral agents,” wrote Peters in her book.
In a 2018 column on Elon University’s website, titled “Trusting Women to Make Abortion Decisions is a Christian Norm,” Peters suggested there is “nothing Christian” about being pro-life.
“There is nothing Christian about requiring women to ‘justify’ their reasons for abortion,” Peters wrote in the column. “And there is certainly nothing Christian about forcing women to continue pregnancies against their will.”
Peters, who is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), holds a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree in addition to her Ph.D. She is adamant that her Christian faith demands that women be supported in choosing abortion for any reason.
“If we truly value women and healthy families,” the column went on, “we must accept that ‘I do not want to have a baby’ is an imminently appropriate reason to end a pregnancy. And we must trust that pregnant women are the only ones who are capable of making these decisions.”
Sponsors for the February 18 event at Emory were the Center for Women at Emory and the Emory Reproductive Health Association.
“The lecture will focus on reframing the public conversation about abortion in this country,” Peters said in a statement to Campus Reform prior to the event. “My hope for the lecture is that it will generate a respectful and productive conversation about abortion and reproductive justice.”
Members of the Emory College Republicans, however, expressed concern about the event.
“Emory GOP, of course, is very disappointed in the university’s overt decision to support this event,” an Emory College Republicans spokesperson told Campus Reform. “However, we do respect the right...to speak about this topic.”
“We actually have a few members that are going to the event to ask questions and encourage an important dialogue on the disastrous implications of this speaker’s message,” the spokesperson noted.