Pastor who volunteers at Planned Parenthood says women abort out of 'love'

Rev. Martin Ellison, who helps lead women into abortions as a volunteer inside a Planned Parenthood facility, has drawn attention for portraying abortion as "love" and as an action that shows a "high regard" for human life.

Key Takeaways:

• Rev. Martin Ellison, an ordained pastor with the Presbyterian Church in America, volunteers inside a Planned Parenthood facility, encouraging women in their abortions.

• He said recently, "Women terminate pregnancies... because of love and out of their high regard for the value of new life."

• Rather than being a source of hope for women that could help them to choose life for their babies, Ellison chooses to support the intentional killing of innocent human beings.

• The Bible is clear that abortion is an evil act.

The Details:

Not The Bee shared a social media post showing Ellison, a retired professor of Christian ethics at Bangor Theological Seminary and an ordained pastor with the Presbyterian Church in America (PCUSA), speaking about his time inside Planned Parenthood. He's also the founder of the Maine Interfaith Council for Reproductive Choices and was a decade-long board member of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE).

In a video shared by Protestia, Ellison said, "Women terminate pregnancies... because of love and out of their high regard for the value of new life. Love sometimes requires saying 'no' to life rather than 'yes.'"

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"Women terminate pregnancies...because of love and out of their high regard for the value of new life. Love sometimes requires saying ‘no’ to life rather than ‘yes." A pro-choice Presbyterian pastor (PCUSA) who works as a volunteer chaplain inside a Planned Parenthood clinic,

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2:32 PM · Feb 16, 2026

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He said that inside the facility, he prayed with Jewish women, Muslim women, conservative Evangelical women, and Catholic women.

"Some confided in me that they had never expected to find a Christian minister inside Planned Parenthood. Maybe outside the clinic, protesting. But they hadn't imagined that they would meet a Christian minister inside the clinic, much less offering care and support," he said.

Not The Bee responded, "They were right. They didn't meet a Christian minister."

In 2024, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE), the affiliate where Ellison volunteers, sought financial support from donors due to a projected $8.6M shortfall. Then, after Congress chose to defund Planned Parenthood for one year in July 2025, Maine chose to funnel $6M in state taxpayer funds to the affiliate along with Maine Family Planning (the latter of which chose to discontinue providing primary care in favor of keeping its abortion business afloat).

Reality Check:

Each time Ellison entered that facility, he had the opportunity to help women choose life. There were likely many who weren't there because they wanted an abortion, but because they felt they had no other choice.

About 64% of women who have had abortions said they did so under pressure. Ellison has the opportunity to help save women and their babies from abortion, but instead, he tells them it's okay to kill their babies because they are afraid, financially insecure, still in school, or in unhealthy relationships.

Many women have said they pray for a sign from God not to have an abortion, and if they don't get that sign, they feel that God has abandoned them. That feeling turns to anger towards God for not stopping their abortion.

Ellison could be that sign, that voice of hope. But instead, he chooses to use his pastoral influence to affirm a woman's choice to kill her own child, even when she doesn't truly want to go through with it.

In Matthew 7:15, Jesus warned his followers:

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you disguised as sheep but underneath are ravenous wolves. You will be able to tell them by their fruits. Can people pick grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, a sound tree produces good fruit but a rotten tree bad fruit. A sound tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor a rotten tree bear good fruit. Any tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown on the fire. I repeat, you will be able to tell them by their fruits."

One cannot be Christian and pro-abortion.

“When it comes to the abortion debate, sometimes we hear people claim that the Bible says nothing about abortion or we hear that the Bible actually supports the practice of abortion,” said John McCray, host of 'Whaddo You Meme??.' “But the reality is the Bible is actually 100% pro-life.”

Abortion enthusiasts claim the Bible is silent on abortion and that Jesus never mentioned it, so therefore, it must be acceptable. But they are, at best, completely misguided. At worst, they are intentionally misleading others.

Joseph Capizzi, Catholic University of America moral theology professor and executive director for the Institute for Human Ecology, explained in a piece for National Review:

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable.” The Didache, written by Jewish Christians just decades after Jesus’s death, condemned abortion and infanticide. The communities organizing themselves around Christ shared the conviction that life is sacred at every stage of development. That conviction has remained constant over two millennia.

The Didache 2.2 (The Teaching Through the Twelve Apostles) states, “[T]hou shalt not murder a child by abortion nor kill them when born.”

God has always been clear that killing innocent human beings is immoral. Genesis 9:6 states, "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image."

Proverbs 6:16 says there are seven things the Lord hates, including "hands that shed innocent blood."

And Psalm 139:13-16 speaks of the creation of new life:

"For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them."

The Bottom Line:

Countless Bible scriptures teach that abortion is evil, but poor theological formation and a willingness to make Jesus' words fit an immoral lifestyle can distort the words of God to justify sinful acts.

As Not The Bee said, "One way to know you're in the wrong church is if your pastor works for Planned Parenthood."