Individual Latter-day Saints gather at pro-life conference

A gathering of 120 Latter-day Saint pro-life advocates took place March 9 at American Preparatory Academy in Draper, Utah, organized by the nonprofit group Latter-day Saints for Life.

Elder R. Pepper Murray, an orthopedic surgeon and a Utah Area Seventy in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, shared remarks at the event, along with Sharon Slater, a U.N. Family Rights Caucus chair, who spoke about trends taking place internationally. Debra Bonner, director of the Unity Gospel Choir, provided a musical number.

Latter-day Saints for Life is not sponsored or affiliated with the church, but describes itself as a “worldwide coalition of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints protecting preborn babies and promoting a pro-life culture.”

The organization aims to help gather fellow believers “in unity” and to educate through various online resources, presentations and home evening guides. The group also works to help pregnant mothers. A service project at the conference assembled care packages that Pro-Life Utah offers to mothers considering abortions, including access to free ultrasounds, baby supplies for up to a year, and a $3,000 life grant for housing, medical bills and anything else the woman may need through pregnancy.

Latter-day Saint teachings on abortion

“It’s great talking about policies and candidates,” said Emily Ells, president of the pro-life club at BYU, during a conference panel discussion. “But what really is going to help people is knowing the doctrine behind” the pro-life cause. Discussing and reviewing gospel teachings is a regular feature of club activities, she said, because they’ve found that “people just don’t know it.”

Elder Murray shared these lines from “The Family: A Proclamation to the World”: “We declare the means by which mortal life is created to be divinely appointed. We affirm the sanctity of life and of its importance in God’s eternal plan.”

Reminding the audience that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has “no official position on the moment that human life begins,” he reiterated how much the faith affirms the “sanctity and eternal value” of life.

“The ultimate act of destruction is to take a life,” he said, quoting President Dallin H. Oaks of the church’s First Presidency, who taught in 1993 as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “Our attitude toward abortion is not based on revealed knowledge of when mortal life begins for legal purposes. It is fixed by our knowledge that according to an eternal plan all of the spirit children of God must come to this earth for a glorious purpose, and that individual identity began long before conception and will continue for all the eternities to come.”

Clarifying the choice that matters most

President Russell M. Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints touched on the subject of choice and agency in a 2008 talk as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “The rights of any one individual do not allow the rights of another individual to be abused. Terminating the life of a developing baby involves two individuals with separate bodies, brains, and hearts.”

Elder Murray cited these remarks before underscoring an official statement from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that again affirmed the sanctity of life and stated, “Therefore, the Church opposes elective abortion for personal or social convenience, and counsels its members not to submit to, perform, encourage, pay for, or arrange for such abortions.” (The church allows for exceptions in cases of rape, incest, when the life of the mother is in danger, or when medical experts determine the unborn baby won’t survive.)

“At times the task of participating in the process of protecting and claiming the sanctity of life seems overwhelming,” Elder Murray acknowledged. “It seems the problem is too large, the question too complex and nuanced to find a way forward.”

“With God’s help, we can do much good.”

A peaceful approach to pro-life advocacy

“But what about the opposition we face from raising our voices?” Elder Murray asked.

“May we be firm, but kind, valiant but approachable, vocal, but ready to listen and consider other points of view,” he answered. “We can find common ground and speak about things we believe and share before we begin to speak about things on which we disagree.”

Referencing President Nelson’s 2023 talk “Peacemakers Needed” as reflective of a distinctive tone we ought to take, he then quoted Elder Marvin Ashton, who encouraged Latter-day Saints in 1978, “When others disagree with our stand we should not argue, retaliate in kind, or contend with them. We can maintain proper relationships and avoid the frustrations of strife.”

“Can we express our beliefs without clenching our fists, raising our voices, and promoting contention? Can we talk about the beneficial principles of the gospel ... without making our listeners defensive?” Elder Ashton said. “This is not easy, but it can be done.”

Elder Murray also highlighted Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who said, “If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. ... The good you do today, may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. ... For you see, in the end, it is between you and your God. It never was between you and them anyway.”

Involved in making a difference

At a breakout session, Merrilee Boyack, director of development at Pro-Life Utah, cited recent statistics of 73 million abortions per year worldwide. “I want to be able to look at my children and grandchildren,” she said, and tell them, “I actually did something about (this).”

Jessica Spackman, founder of the organization Latter-day Saints for Life, said at the conference, “In this life, I don’t think we will know the impact of our efforts today and as we stand for life moving forward.”

Spackman told attendees about getting a call from someone with a friend considering an abortion. After encouraging this person to share a website helping explain God’s love and plan for each of us, this individual later texted back saying she is not aborting, but considering adoption instead.

“That is what Latter-day Saints for Life is about,” Spackman said, standing for “the sanctity of life, of the pure worth of preborn children.” As “the doctrine of the sanctity of life will spread,” she shared her hope that “more lives will be saved.”