Southern Baptists in Kentucky and North Carolina approved resolutions supporting the abolition of abortion and equal protection under the law for preborn babies, even as those in Louisiana failed to enact a similar resolution after opposition from state denominational leaders.
Attendees at the Kentucky Baptist Convention approved a resolution this week stating that equal protection under the law “requires the same legal prohibitions and available sanctions against homicide that exist to protect persons after birth likewise to protect persons before birth,” meaning that every party willfully involved with an abortion should face criminal penalties.
The resolution clarified that “equal protection would require a case-by-case determination” such that mothers would not be “subject to criminal liability if under criminal duress,” also noting that situations of “medical triage” resulting in the death of a preborn baby are not criminal offenses. Pastor Wesley Russell of Immanuel Baptist Church in Pikeville, Kentucky, said in comments to The Sentinel that he saw virtually none of the attendees vote against the resolution.
“This truly has been a grassroots effort from our Kentucky abolitionists,” he said. “We have spent the better part of five years having individual conversations, conferences at local churches, and engaging with leaders within the Kentucky Baptist Convention regarding misconceptions and concerns related to equal protection.”
Russell added that the Kentucky Baptist Convention is now “equipped with a biblical resolution to take to our state lawmakers.” The measure calls on Baptist ministers in the state to “speak with one unified, principled, prophetic voice to abolish abortion."
Attendees at the North Carolina Baptist Convention likewise endorsed an equal protection resolution with overwhelming support last week after a handful of amendments, many of which commended recent efforts from Baptists to assist abortion-minded families. Churches vowed in the resolution to “advocate for the equal protection of the preborn and justice under our laws.”
The resolution added that “establishing equal justice and protection under our laws for the preborn children of North Carolina, from fertilization to birth,” will be prioritized among individual church members, congregations, and the North Carolina Baptist Convention.
Attendees at the Louisiana Baptist Convention this week nevertheless failed to signal support for equal protection after the resolutions committee decided against presenting the measure, which was introduced by Pastor Brian Gunter of First Baptist Church in Livingston, Louisiana.
Pastor Field Thigpen of Memorial Baptist Church in Bogalusa, Louisiana, said that fellow members of the resolutions committee disagreed with the notion of “bringing women before the court system to be tried” for prenatal homicide. Louisiana Baptist Convention Office of Public Policy Will Hall spoke against the resolution on similar grounds, claiming that the majority of women are coerced into abortions and that “all women who are in the first trimester are undergoing tremendous hormonal changes that have a severe impact on their decision-making.”
Gunter said on social media that the resolutions in Kentucky and North Carolina were similar to the one he proposed, but noted that “leadership of their state conventions supported” the measures even as their Louisiana counterparts did the opposite. “Louisiana Baptists, we can do better than accepting the idea that abortion should remain legal for women,” he reacted.
Senior officials in the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest association of Protestant churches, have faced criticism for assertions that women who willfully murder their preborn babies should never face criminal penalties. Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission President Brent Leatherwood endorsed a letter last year recommending that Louisiana state lawmakers refrain from passing a bill to abolish abortion.
