Proposed SBC resolutions touch on Christian political engagement, Israel, parental rights

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Tuesday, June 04, 2024

IVF

A process of artificial insemination of an egg in an IVF clinic. | iStock/Kalinovskiy

Messengers will consider a resolution that expresses concern over the process of in vitro fertilization, especially the destruction of frozen embryos.

Titled "On the Ethical Realities of Reproductive Technologies and the Dignity of the Human Embryo," the resolution calls on the SBC "to reaffirm the unconditional value and right to life of every human being, including those in an embryonic stage, and to only utilize reproductive technologies consistent with that affirmation."

"In Vitro Fertilization most often engages in the destruction of embryonic human life and increasingly engages in dehumanizing methods for determining suitability for life and genetic sorting, based on notions of genetic fitness and parental preferences," reads the resolution.

"The In Vitro Fertilization process routinely creates more embryos than can reasonably be implanted, thus resulting in the continued freezing, stockpiling and ultimate destruction of human embryos, some of which may also be subjected to medical experimentation."

The resolution calls on Southern Baptists to "continue to promote adoption as one way God may call upon couples to grow their families and to consider adopting frozen embryos in order to rescue those who are eventually to be destroyed" and to "encourage" couples considering IVF "to consider the ethical implications of assisted reproductive technologies as they look to God for hope, grace, and wisdom amid suffering."

A longstanding ethical debate, IVF has garnered increased attention since February when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos created via the process and kept frozen are protected by the state's Wrongful Death of a Minor Act.