December 11, 2020 Dear Reverend Warnock,We are a coalition of Black Christian ministers who, like you, feel called by God to preach the Bible, advocate for justice and fight against societal evils. We applaud your commendable effortsto share Christ while pursuing political solutions to our most pressing problems today. But precisely because we share so much in common with you, we feel compelled to confront your most recent statements concerning abortion. You have gone on the record saying that you are a “ pro-choice pastor ” who will “always fight for reproductive justice.” You have  publicly expressed your views that abortion is an exercise of “human agency and freedom” that is fully consistent with your role as a shepherd of God’s people. We believe these statements represent grave errors of judgment and a lapse in pastoral responsibility, and we entreat you to reconsider them. As a Christian pastor and as a Black leader, you have a duty to denounce the evil of abortion, which kills a disproportionate number of Black children. Your open advocacy of abortion is a scandal to the faith and to the Black community. Abortion is fundamentally in conflict with the plain reading of the Bible. The Bible clearly teaches that human life is created by God beginning at conception. As Psalm 139 proclaims: “You knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am wonderfully and fearfullymade.” What human being could possibly have the right to blot out an innocent life that God has wonderfully and fearfully made? Abortion prematurely thwarts God’s providential and loving plan for a promising human life. And by terminating an innocent unborn life in the womb, abortion directly violates the seventh commandment: “Thou shalt not kill.” God demands that every faithful Christian protect and uphold the sanctity of innocent human life, at every stage of life. Supporting abortion represents a serious abdication of and a transgression against that responsibility, just like the disrespect of the poor, the disabled, or the elderly. Couching abortion in the language of “reproductive justice” may be savvy marketing, but killing an innocent human life has nothing to do either with reproduction or with justice. Do American adults really need another public voice urging them to put their own short-term desires ahead of the needs of their children? As a pastor who speaks for the Christian community, we implore youto speak the plain truth about a practice as barbaric and destructive as abortion. And then there is the uniquely devastating impact that abortion has on the Black communities you serve. The pro-abortion movement in America has been characterized by racism and white supremacy since its inception. And to this day, abortion continues to unequally and disproportionately harm Black lives, perpetuating systemic racism. Despite making up only 13% of the female population, Black women represent 36% of all abortions, and Black women are

 

almost five times more likely than their white counterparts to receive an abortion. In some cities across the country, more Black children are aborted every year  than are born alive.Can you in good conscience defend abortion, knowing that abortion kills 474 Black babies for every 1000 live births? Abortion decimates Black communities, disrupts Black families and inflicts untold harm on Black women. Black women and Black families need your advocacy; they need your protection, and they need your support. But they do not need Black pastors making excuses for the racism in the abortion industry. Killing Black lives, especially killing unborn Black lives, does nothing but brutalize and scar vulnerable Black communities who are already suffering so much. For all of the above reasons, we entreat you to reconsider your public advocacy for abortion. Unborn Black, brown and white lives are so much more than clumps of cells, burdensome inconveniences, or health problems. They are sacred human persons endowed by God with inalienable dignity and worth. We implore you to uphold the Biblical defense of life and to fight against the systemic racism of abortion. Sincerely,Bishop Garland HuntFather's House Norcross, GABishop Wellington BooneFellowship of International ChurchesAtlanta, GABishop Flynn JohnsonMetro City ChurchAtlanta, GABishop Michael PadenGA Metro Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction COGICAtlanta, GA

 

Bishop John ReidJohn Reid MinistriesCumming, GAPastor Frankie VegaAwakening Reformation Center Smyrna, GAPastor Everett Spencer  New Dimensions Church Newnan, GA

 

Pastor Stacy FrisonGrace Christian FellowshipSugar Hill, GAPastor Arnold MurrayGeorgia Pastors Network Cumming, GAPastor James Leak Georgia Pastors Network Lawrenceville, GAEvangelist Alveda KingAlveda King MinistriesAtlanta, GARev. Harriet BradleyDemocrats for LifeAtlanta, GAGerard HenryFormer Host of BET's Lift Every VoiceAlpharetta, GAMin. Catherine DavisRestoration ProjectStone Mountain, GAMin. Michael Lancaster Frederick Douglass Foundation of GASuwanee, GABishop Jim LoweGuiding Light ChurchBirmingham, ALBishop Aubrey ShinesConservative Clergy of Color Tampa, FLRev. AD Lenoir Westfield Baptist ChurchMiami, FLRev. Lorenzo Neal