WHEREAS, Scripture reveals that all human life is created in the image of God, and therefore sacred to our Creator (Genesis 1:27; 9:6); and
WHEREAS, The Bible affirms that the preborn child is a person, bearing the image of God, from the moment of conception (Psalm 139:13–16; Luke 1:44); and
WHEREAS, Southern Baptists have historically recognized the sanctity of life in the womb and repeatedly reaffirmed our pro-life ethic, our opposition to the heinous act of abortion, and our support for abortion-vulnerable women in more than 20 resolutions1 over the course of 40 years; and
WHEREAS, beginning with our 1989 Resolution “On Encouraging Laws Regulating Abortion,” we have supported laws in the various state legislatures that have brought us incrementally to the threshold of a moment of great victory in the pro-life cause; and
WHEREAS, Southern Baptists pray for a historic United States Supreme Court ruling in the coming days in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which may overturn the precedent established by the 1973 Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade and reaffirmed in the 1992 ruling in Planned Parenthood v. Casey; and
WHEREAS, Southern Baptists stand in prayerful expectation and hopeful anticipation of this ruling from the nation’s highest court, which will enable state legislators to affirm the truth that life begins at conception and that the preborn are worthy of dignity and protection; and
WHEREAS, Southern Baptists remain committed to our ongoing pro-life efforts and partnerships with state and local governments, pro-life legislators, and like-minded pro-life organizations; and
WHEREAS, Southern Baptists have been on the forefront of this work beginning with the election of Richard Land to the Christian Life Commission and continuing through the work of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission staff and leadership today; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Anaheim, California, June 14-15, 2022, encourage all Southern Baptists to pray for the overturning of the disastrous precedent set in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we commend the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission’s frontline work on the pro-life cause and urge all Southern Baptists to continue our faithful pro-life advocacy by partnering with local, state, and federal governments to enact pro-life and pro-family policies that serve and support vulnerable women, children, and families; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we implore Southern Baptists to continue and increase their efforts to serve and support local pregnancy resource centers, pro-life organizations, churches, foster-care and adoptive families, doing invaluable and often under-recognized work in the care of women and children at every stage of life; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we commit to stand with and pray for abortion-vulnerable women, to eliminate any perceived need for the horror of abortion, and to oppose Planned Parenthood and other predatory organizations or institutions who exploit vulnerable women for profit; and be it finally
RESOLVED, That we urge the Supreme Court of the United States to overturn the precedent set in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, and urge the state legislatures to enact pro-life policies that uphold the dignity and value of every human life, including both vulnerable women and children.
1 1980 Resolution “On Abortion,” 1982 Resolution “On Abortion & Infanticide,” 1984 Resolution “On Abortion,” 1986 Resolution “On Sex Education & Adolescent Pregnancy,” 1987 Resolution “On Abortion,” 1988 Resolution “Pro-Life Actions of SBC Agencies,” 1989 Resolution “On Encouraging Laws Regulating Abortion,” 1991 Resolution “On the Sanctity of Human Life,” 1992 Resolution “On Fetal Tissue Experimentation,” 1993 Resolution “On the Freedom Of Choice Act, Hyde Amendment,” 1994 Resolution “On RU486, The French Abortion Pill,” 1995 Resolution “On Surgeon General Nominee Dr. Henry Foster,” 1996 Resolution “On the Partial Birth Abortion Ban,” 1996 Resolution “On Requiring all Political Parties to Include a Pro-Life Actions Platform,” 1999 Resolution “On Human Embryonic & Stem Cell Research,” 2000 Resolution “On Fetal Tissue Trafficking,” 2002 Resolution “On Partial Birth Abortion,” 2003 Resolution “On Thirty Years of Roe v. Wade,” 2008 Resolution “On Planned Parenthood,” 2015 Resolution “On the Sanctity of Human Life,” 2017 Resolution “On Defunding and Investigating Planned Parenthood,” 2018 Resolution “On Reaffirming the Full Dignity of Every Human Being,” 2019 Resolution “On Celebrating the Advancement of Pro-Life Legislation in State Legislators,” 2021 Resolution “On Abolishing Abortion.”