Another vote has come and gone now at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting, with this tally resulting in the formal opposition of in vitro fertilization.
The SBC, America’s largest protestant denomination, has seen a flurry of activity this week with a new president, Rev. Clint Pressley, elected while rejecting the Law Amendment’s contentious ban on female pastors and churches who hold women in pastoral positions.
“We grieve alongside couples who have been diagnosed with infertility or are currently struggling to conceive, affirm their godly desire for children, and encourage them to consider the ethical implications of assisted reproductive technologies as they look to God for hope, grace and wisdom amid suffering; and be it finally,” the resolution reads.
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This topic has become hotly contested, especially within Republican circles, as many such as conservative commentator Allie Beth Stuckey are wholly opposed to the process.
“While we have compassion for those who struggle with infertility, that’s no justification for IVF. Inherent in IVF is the eugenic selection of and destruction of embryos. It causes a cascade of ethical issues. There are over a million abandoned embryos on ice as we speak. Either we pro-lifers believe life starts at conception and therefore deserves rights or we do not,” Stuckey wrote in an X post responding to former presidential candidate Nicki Haley, a Republican, who is in favor of IVF services.
No, it’s not. While we have compassion for those who struggle with infertility, that’s no justification for IVF. Inherent in IVF is the eugenic selection of and destruction of embryos. It causes a cascade of ethical issues. There are over a million of abandoned embryos on ice as… https://t.co/qd2GPIiaxY
— Allie Beth Stuckey (@conservmillen) June 13, 2024
Haley credits fertility procedures for being able to have her own children.
Two Republican Senators, Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Katie Britt (R-AL), are looking to pass a bill that would protect fertility procedures in the wake of the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos are legally considered people and are then afforded certain rights.
Yet the SBC is not alone in their stance against IVF.
In April, the Catholic Church reaffirmed its opposition to IVF and surrogate pregnancies, describing these practices as offenses to human dignity. The Vatican’s document “Dignitas Infinita” states, “Acknowledging the dignity of the human person also entails recognizing every dimension of the dignity of the conjugal union and of human procreation. The legitimate desire to have a child cannot be transformed into a ‘right to a child’ that fails to respect the dignity of that child as the recipient of the gift of life.”
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James Lasher is Staff Writer for Charisma Media.
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