Anglicans for Life (AFL) is the

anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...

ministry of the Anglican Church in North America and internationally associated with some members of the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...

, specifically of

GAFCON The Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (branded as GAFCON or Gafcon) is a global network of conservative Anglicanism, Anglican churches that formed in 2008 in response to an ongoing theological crisis in the worldwide Anglican Communion. ...

. AFL educates and provides pastoral resources on the

right to life The right to life is the belief that a being has the right to live and, in particular, should not be killed by another entity. The concept of a right to life arises in debates on issues including capital punishment, with some people seeing it as ...

position on the issues of

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

assisted suicide Assisted suicide is suicide undertaken with the aid of another person. The term usually refers to physician-assisted suicide (PAS), which is suicide that is assisted by a physician or other healthcare provider. Once it is determined that the p ...

, elderly care, cloning and embryonic stem cell research. AFL also educates and provides pastoral resources on

abstinence Abstinence is a self-enforced restraint from indulging in bodily activities that are widely experienced as giving pleasure. Most frequently, the term refers to sexual abstinence, but it can also mean abstinence from alcohol, drugs, food, etc. ...

and

adoption Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...

. The organization has volunteer Life Leaders in more than 100 parishes in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

and

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

. AFL also has the support of the

American Anglican Council The American Anglican Council began as an organization of theologically conservative Anglicans from both the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) and The Episcopal Church in the United States. According to its membership brochure, it was found ...

and of several "life-affirming churches" of the Episcopal Church of the United States. Anglicans for Life Canada is affiliated with the Anglican Network in Canada, a diocese of the Anglican Church in North America, being officially launched at 7 May 2014 in a seminar held at St. Peter and St. Paul's Anglican Church in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

. The current president is Georgette Forney. The first director is Vicky Hedelius.

History

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The Episcopal Church was historically anti-abortion. In 1958, it still held that "Abortion and infanticide are to be condemned." In 1966 Joseph M. Harte, bishop of the

Episcopal Diocese of Arizona The Episcopal Diocese of Arizona is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America which has jurisdiction over most of Arizona. It is in Province VIII. Jennifer Anne Reddall is the current bishop. Her seat is at Trinity Ca ...

founded Episcopalians for Life, which was officially incorporated in 1983 as the National Organization of Episcopalians for Life Research and Education Foundation (NOEL). From 1983 to 1996 NOEL operated from Fairfax, Virginia. It published newsletters and educational resources to present their

concerns. NOEL's ministry reached nationwide, ministering to women in unplanned pregnancies, educating Episcopalians about abortion, and working to influence the church by introducing

resolutions at General Conventions. In 1988, the 69th General Convention of the Episcopal Church adopted a resolution that stated: "All human life is sacred. Hence it is sacred from its inception until death." The statement went on to call for church programs to assist women with problem pregnancies and to emphasize the seriousness of the abortion decision. In 1994, the Episcopal Church was the first church member of the Anglican Communion to fully support legal abortion at the 71st General Convention, expressing its "unequivocal opposition to any... action... that

ould Ould is an English surname and an Arabic name ( ar, ولد). In some Arabic dialects, particularly Hassaniya Arabic, ولد‎ (the patronymic, meaning "son of") is transliterated as Ould. Most Mauritanians have patronymic surnames. Notable p ...

abridge the right of a woman to reach an informed decision about the termination of her pregnancy, or that would limit the access of a woman to a safe means of acting upon her decision." In 1996 the NOEL headquarters moved from Virginia to

Sewickley, Pennsylvania Sewickley is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, west northwest of Pittsburgh along the Ohio River. It is a residential suburb of Pittsburgh. The population was 3,827 according to the United States Census 2010, 20 ...

. In 1998 the board appointed Georgette Forney as the fifth president of NOEL, a position formerly named "executive secretary" and "executive director". NOEL changed its name to Anglicans For Life in 2006 as its ministry expanded to the wider

. In the US, AFL works with parishes of

the Episcopal Church The Episcopal Church, based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine Ecclesiastical provinces and dioces ...

, ACNA, and other Continuing Anglican groups.

Campaigns

In conjunction with Priests for Life, Anglicans for Life (then NOEL) launched the

Silent No More The Silent No More Awareness Campaign is a United States-based anti-abortion campaign of two larger organizations, Priests for Life and Anglicans for Life. It was co-founded in 2003 by Janet Morana, Executive Director of Priests for Life, and Geor ...

campaign in 2003 in an effort to further educate the general public about abortion and other related issues. Silent No More is a ministry started by post-abortive women and men with the intention of reaching out to other post-abortive people. The Campaign allowed AFL to network and partner with other

organizations in the United States. In 2010, AFL launched the "Anglican Angel Ministry" to raise awareness about the need to help pregnant women and to provide a parish-based support system for single mothers. The Silent No More campaign has 80 Regional Coordinators worldwide, in the United States, Canada, Ireland, Scotland, France, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Spain, Australia and Uganda.Silent No More at Anglicans for Life Official Website

References

External links

Official homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anglicans for Life American Christian political organizations Anglican Church in North America Anglican organizations Christian organizations established in the 20th century Anti-abortion organizations in the United States

History

Campaigns

See also

References

External links