The nation's largest The Protestant gathering voted against the use of in vitro fertilization (IVF) in fertility treatments, a harbinger of the anti-abortion movement's growing commitment to infertility care.
On Wednesday, the Southern Baptist Convention — an annual gathering of thousands of “delegates” representing many Baptist and evangelical churches across the country — passed a resolution affirming “the unconditional value and right to life of every human being, including those in the embryonic stage, and to use only reproductive technologies consistent with this affirmation, especially in the number of embryos created in the IVF process.”
The resolution also condemned the creation of excess embryos during IVF treatment, as well as the destruction of embryos not used in treatment. The document contained a separate clause authorizing the adoption of “frozen embryos to save those that are ultimately to be destroyed.”
Earlier this year, the Alabama Supreme Court declared that IVF embryos were legally human in the eyes of the state, calling them “ectopic children.” The ruling caused immediate chaos for couples undergoing fertility treatments in Alabama and sparked a national backlash that prompted Alabama lawmakers to pass a bill protecting access to IVF a few weeks later.
Regardless, the Alabama Supreme Court's ruling was a victory for hardline conservatives who see the end of federal abortion rights as just the beginning of their crusade against reproductive autonomy. IVF quickly became a national hot topic, and in February Republicans in the US Senate repealed legislation that sought to protect access to IVF at the federal level. “They're not just going to stop in Alabama. Mark my words, if we don't act now, it's going to get worse,” bill author Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) said at the time.
Although the resolution adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention is not binding, it serves as a guiding framework for millions of evangelical churches across the country. The same day congress voted against IVF failed to secure the required two-thirds majority was needed to pass an amendment to its constitution prohibiting cooperation with churches that “confirm, ordain, or employ a woman as a pastor of any kind.”
The vote failed by just five percentage points.
from our partners at https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/southern-baptists-vote-to-oppose-ivf-women-pastors-1235038956/