Resolutions committee chair Kristen Ferguson delivers part of the committee’s report to messengers at the 2024 SBC Annual Meeting in Indianapolis. — Photo by Sonya Singh
INDIANAPOLIS — SBC messengers spoke to in vitro fertilization (IVF) for the first time on June 12, adopting a resolution on the topic after a sometimes-emotional floor discussion that featured messengers sharing their personal experiences with reproductive technologies.
A resolution “On the ethical realities of reproductive technologies and the dignity of the human embryo” called on Southern Baptists “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 especially in the number of embryos generated in the IVF process.”
IVF (a technology that combines an egg and sperm in a laboratory then implants the resulting embryo in a woman’s womb) “routinely generates more embryos than can be safely implanted,” “most often participates in the destruction of embryonic human life” and has generated 1-1.5 million unborn children currently stored in cryogenic freezers in the U.S., “with most unquestionably destined for eventual destruction,” according to the resolution.
Resolutions Committee chair Kristen Ferguson said IVF is a complex issue on which Southern Baptists need to say more in the future. This year’s resolution merely opens the conversation.
“This is the first step for us to be able to speak to (IVF),” said Ferguson, vice president of student services and enrollment at Gateway Seminary. The resolution “reiterates our long-held belief of the sanctity of human life. It’s the committee’s belief that Southern Baptists will continue to apply their long-held theology of the sanctity of human life as they continue to have the conversation.”
During debate on the resolution, one messenger told how his godson was born via IVF. Another told how she adopted two frozen embryos and had them implanted in her womb. Both died before birth. A third messenger said he has one son via IVF, and his wife is 20 weeks pregnant through a second IVF procedure.
Among the other calls to action, the resolution:
• asked Southern Baptists to “advocate for the government to restrain actions inconsistent with the dignity and value of every human being, which necessarily includes frozen embryonic human beings”;
• encouraged couples “to consider adopting frozen embryos”;
• urged couples struggling with infertility “to consider the ethical implications of assisted reproductive technologies as they look to God for hope”;
• commended “couples who at great cost have earnestly sought to only utilize infertility treatments and reproductive technologies in ways consistent with the dignity of the human embryo as well as those who have adopted frozen embryos.” B&R
