A social ethicist and ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) drew attention on social media Monday for a resurfaced clip of her sermon promoting abortion, which she delivered earlier this year at a liberal synagogue in North Carolina while decked out in a Planned Parenthood stole.
"As a Christian ethicist and ordained Presbyterian clergy member, the fact that the major threats to the reproductive health and rights of women across the country are coming from Christian communities and arguments was the driving factor for me to reshape my professional agenda to focus almost entirely on these issues over the last 10 years," the Rev. Rebecca Todd Peters said in the roughly two-minute clip, which was posted by the popular Christian X account Protestia.
- Wearing a 'Planned Parenthood' stole while speaking at a Jewish synagogue, Presbyterian 'pastor' (PCUSA) Rebecca Todd Peters explains that she's dedicated the last decade of her life supporting abortion and creating pro-choice arguments and rhetoric. pic.twitter.com/ZYxEBUOhUn — Protestia (@Protestia) July 20, 2026
Describing herself as "a woman born and raised in the South, as the daughter of a Presbyterian minister and myself a Christian ethicist committed to liberation theology and social justice," Peters said she has "felt called to address the deep harm that anti-choice Christians were and are inflicting across the country."
"My work is now focused largely on developing counter-narratives that tell different stories about abortion and reproductive decision-making; stories that seek to highlight the ways in which ending pregnancies saves lives and can help to support people seeking to live into wholeness and moral responsibility," she said.
"My own story includes four pregnancies and two abortions. And like most people, I would much prefer to talk to you about my children than my abortions. But part of the problem is that people don't feel safe or comfortable talking about ending pregnancies. Abortion is laden with stigma in America," she added.
The clip was from a longer, 20-minute address titled "Reclaiming Scripture for Reproductive Dignity," which Peters delivered in February as a guest speaker during a "Repro Rights Shabbat" at Temple Beth El, a Reform Jewish congregation in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Elsewhere in her sermon, Peters described unborn babies as "prenates," which she defined as "the developing entity during gestation for as long as the prenate resides inside the woman and is dependent on her body and her blood to exist." Blaming Christians for bringing "stigma" about abortion that has "spilled over and filled our public spaces in deeply shaming ways," she suggested the Torah does not teach the full personhood of the unborn.
Citing Exodus 21:22-25, which levies a fine against someone involved in a fight who strikes a woman and causes her to miscarry, Peters argued that the Torah drew "a clear moral distinction ... between the prenate and the pregnant woman."
"The general consensus is that this text demonstrates that while prenatal life has value, it does not have the same value as the life of a pregnant woman," she said.
She later shared "one of my favorite insights" that she received from a 27-year-old woman named Emma, who reportedly said she "was so tired of how anti-choice Christians are always talking about how God knit us together in our mother's wombs," in reference to Psalm 139:13-14.
"[Emma] said, 'I knit and I undo my knitting all the time. Knitting projects aren't very solid. That's the beauty and the gift of being the artist. You can make the choice.' Emma reminded me of what it means to be a theologian," Peters said.
Peters concluded her remarks by claiming her work "has become a ministry of dismantling the negative and stigmatizing Christian messaging about abortion, and refusing to cede the interpretation of sacred texts to those who would use them for ill."
"In my work, I seek to reclaim texts like Exodus 21 and Psalm 139 for liberation and justice, and to develop, promote and preach morally rich theologies and spiritual teachings that reflect theologies of reproductive dignity, justice and love. May it be so," she added.
Peters, who received her M.Div. and Ph.D. in Christian Social Ethics from Union Theological Seminary in New York City, is a professor of religious studies at Elon University and declares that "abortion is a moral good," according to her website. In 2019, she drew media attention for delivering a lecture at Emory University in Georgia titled "Reframing Choice: Abortion as a Moral Good."
Peters has also written the book Trust Women: A Progressive Christian Argument for Reproductive Justice, which argues that "shaming and judging [about abortion] reflects deep, often unspoken patriarchal and racist assumptions about women and women's sexual activity," according to its description. The book was endorsed by the late Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards, who praised it for "offering a stirring argument that 'the best arbiter of a woman's reproductive destiny is herself.'"
The PCUSA, which remains the largest Presbyterian denomination in the U.S. despite hemorrhaging churches and members, has grown increasingly liberal in recent decades. At their annual General Assembly last month, the denomination passed a measure supporting the castration of children experiencing gender dysphoria.
The PCUSA also recently made headlines for internal debate over an overture to mandate monogamy among clergy, which drew backlash from advocates of polyamory within the denomination.
This article was originally published by The Christian Post.
