The Southern Baptist Convention’s public policy arm has launched a campaign asking Congress to defund Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider.
“For too long, taxpayer dollars, $700 million last year alone, have been given to this organization that profits from ending life. It is outrageous that promises that have been made for years now have never been turned into real results,” the petition on the website of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) states.
“End this egregious assault on the consciences of millions of pro-life Americans that has resulted in the unconscionable loss of millions of preborn sons and daughters at the hands of this organization.”
In an interview with The Christian Post, ERLC President Brent Leatherwood said the effort is timely. Congressional debate over the annual federal budget process is ongoing. The hope is that the GOP majority will finally act to defund the abortion giant.
Specifically, Leatherwood said the ERLC is pressing pro-life senators to rely on a procedural fast-track process called budget reconciliation, which would allow legislators to pass a budget with a simple majority instead of the typical 60-vote threshold in the Senate.
Republicans hold a 53-seat majority in the 100-member chamber, plus a current 218-215 GOP majority in the House of Representatives, with two vacancies.
“And with the reconciliation process beginning with a Republican House, a Republican Senate, and a Republican-controlled White House,” Leatherwood said, “we think now is the time to follow through on those commitments and fully defund Planned Parenthood so that taxpayer resources aren’t going to this sort of horrific behavior and activity.”
As of Feb. 19, the petition included a list of more than 50 leaders in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, including seminary presidents R. Albert Mohler Jr. and David Dockery, Charlotte, North Carolina, pastor and SBC President Clint Pressley, and Dallas-area pastor Jack Graham, a former SBC president.
Leatherwood said he expects more pastors and lay people to sign the petition in the coming days, with plans to take the petition to Congress.
“We’re going to be delivering that message to the House of Representatives and, in particular, the Energy and Commerce Committee and the Budget Committee, to tell them that this needs to be a priority as they are saving taxpayer resources,” he underscored. “With a Republican controlled-House, Republican-controlled Senate, this is the moment to act on those historic pledges.”
The petition grounds its action in Scripture and Christian doctrine.
“Southern Baptists affirm the sanctity of every human life, including the preborn,” the petition notes. “Scripture testifies that every person is made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) and that life begins at conception (Psalm 139:13-16). The Baptist Faith and Message proclaims that children, from the moment of conception, are ‘a blessing and heritage from the Lord.’ As followers of Christ, we must advocate for protecting vulnerable preborn lives and oppose organizations and practices that undermine the value of life.
“Planned Parenthood’s predatory, deceptive, and destructive practices are destroying preborn lives at the expense of the American taxpayer.”
The petition can be accessed here.
