Southern Baptists vote to oppose IVF and reject tighter ban on women pastors
The resolution on IVF states that “though all children are to be fully respected and protected, not all technological means of assisting human reproduction are equally God-honoring or morally justified.” It cites the number of embryos generated in the IVF process — resulting in freezing, stockpiling and sometimes destroying the excess — and asks families to use other reproductive technologies, or to consider adopting children or unwanted frozen embryos.
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Why the Southern Baptists’ vote opposing IVF could change national politics
“It’s going to be a long process. It took us 50 years to take down Roe,” said Brent Leatherwood, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the public policy arm of the SBC. “It may take us a similarly long time frame to get people to a place where they are thinking more deeply about something like this. It’s okay. It takes time. We have to be patient.”
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Southern Baptists formally oppose in vitro fertilization
Delegates in Indianapolis voted for the resolution opposing IVF, which also urged the denomination’s members “to advocate for the government to restrain actions inconsistent with the dignity and value of every human being, which necessarily includes frozen embryonic human beings.”
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Southern Baptist Convention’s opposition to IVF leaves some hurt and grappling with their options
For some, the resolution’s tone was deeply hurtful.
While the document acknowledged the “searing pain” of infertility, it also characterized certain aspects of IVF as “dehumanizing.” It argued that “not all technological means of assisting human reproduction are equally God honoring or morally justified.”
Read more at NBC News