WHEREAS, The Bible clearly teaches that human life is sacred and must be protected; and
WHEREAS, Southern Baptists have consistently upheld the sanctity of human life by adopting numerous resolutions at the associational, state, and national venues, advocating public policies to protect the unborn and encouraging the development of crisis pregnancy centers; and
WHEREAS, RU 486, the French abortion pill, is a direct assault on the sacredness and value of unborn human life in that this drug kills an unborn child whose heart has already started to beat; and
WHEREAS, While RU 486 has often been called a “morning-after” pill, its only proven use is an abortifacient and is, therefore, not a true contraceptive; and
WHEREAS, President Clinton signed on Executive Order on January 22, 1993 (the 20th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion on demand), ordering the Food and Drug Administration to facilitate the introduction of RU 486 into United States markets; and
WHEREAS, On May 16, 1994, the French drug company Roussel Uclaf donated its U.S. patent rights for the RU 486 abortion technique to the Population Council, an American pro-abortion organization, for the purpose of bringing the drug to America; and
WHEREAS, Roussel Uclaf acknowledged the pressure applied by the Clinton Administration to accomplish the transfer of the patent rights when Roussel’s representative said on May 16, “It was only when President Clinton changed the governmental policy and specifically asked Roussel to make the procedure available here that our client (Roussel Uclaf), out of respect for the President of the United States, agreed to make every effort to comply with his request”; and
WHEREAS, The stated purpose of the use of RU 486 according to its advocates is to make abortion more accessible to women by encouraging more physicians to become abortionists; and
WHEREAS, Past experience has demonstrated that increasing the number of abortionists vastly expands the number of abortions, which currently stands at 1.6 million per year in America; and
WHEREAS, The use of RU 486 has resulted in the injury and death of some women in nations where this abortion technique is currently available; and
WHEREAS, The Clinton Administration’s advocacy for RU 486 clearly belies the President’s repeatedly stated goal for his abortion policy to make abortion “safe and legal, but rare”; and
WHEREAS, Pro-life organizations, including the Southern Baptist Christian Life Commission, have announced the intention of initiating a boycott against Roussel Uclaf and its German parent company, Hoechst A G (including their American subsidiaries, Hoechst Celanese and Hoechst Roussel), for their corporate responsibility for making this drug available in America; and
WHEREAS, Economic boycotts are a legitimate means for Christians to use to express their convictions about immoral products in the marketplace.
Therefore, Be it RESOLVED, That we, the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting in Orlando, Florida, June 14-16, 1994, condemn the blatant advocacy of RU 486 by the Clinton Administration, and oppose the testing, approval, manufacturing, marketing, and sale of the abortion pill in the United States; and
Be it finally RESOLVED, That we urge Southern Baptists and their churches, associations, state conventions, and national agencies to support the impending boycott which will be waged against Roussel Uclaf and Hoechst A G, including their American subsidiaries.