Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution Wednesday that calls on lawmakers to restrict in vitro fertilization and urges couples to exercise caution considering IVF because the process involves “frozen embryonic human beings.” The resolution was passed at the SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis as lawmakers on the federal and state levels considered bills on IVF in the wake of an Alabama Supreme Court ruling restricting the procedure. In the U.S. Senate, all 49 Republicans have signed a statement saying they support IVF.

“The In Vitro Fertilization process routinely generates more embryos than can be safely implanted, thus resulting in the continued freezing, stockpiling, and ultimate destruction of human embryos, some of whom may also be subjected to medical experimentation,” the resolution says.

Estimates suggest that “between 1 million and 1.5 million human beings are currently stored in cryogenic freezers in an embryonic state throughout the United States,” with most “unquestionably destined for eventual destruction,” the resolution says.

“We call on Southern Baptists to love all of their neighbors in accordance with their God-given dignity as image bearers and 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,” it says.

The resolution encourages Southern Baptists to consider adoption, including the adoption of “frozen embryos in order to rescue those who are eventually to be destroyed (Proverbs 24:11-12).”

“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,” the resolution says. “... We commend 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.”

“We commit to pray to our God who hears, sees, and remembers on behalf of those couples struggling with infertility,” it says.

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