Southern Baptists affirm that every life is worthy of protection, beginning with the preborn. We believe life begins at conception and that abortion denies precious human lives both personhood and protection. Scripture is clear that every person is made in the image of God—including the preborn—and God’s knowledge of the preborn even precedes the creative act of conception (Jeremiah 1:5; Psalm 139:13).
Southern Baptists affirm that every human is created in the image of God. As stated in a 2022 resolution of the Southern Baptist Convention, the Bible “affirms that the preborn child is a person, bearing the image of God, from the moment of conception (Luke 1:44); a truth to which Christians in every century have testified and are called to bear witness in every age and in every sphere of life.” Further, the convention’s Baptist Faith & Message affirms that “children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord” and calls us to “speak on behalf of the unborn and contend for the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death.”
The Ensuring Access to Abortion Act of 2022 requires states to allow the transportation of abortion pills from other states. This bill would defy existing restrictions in at least 19 states and expand access to abortion pills nationwide. Abortion pills accounted for over half of all abortions in 2020, and are four times more dangerous than surgical abortions.
This bill would also functionally provide a federal protection for the emerging trend known as abortion tourism. Abortion tourism is quickly emerging as a trend promoted by some individuals, companies, and even some lawmakers. This would, in effect, seek to create pathways for access to abortion that sidesteps the compelling interest of governments that want to pursue avenues that save vulnerable preborn lives.
The ERLC strongly opposes the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act of 2022. This bill would enshrine access to the dangerous abortion pill in federal law and would promote abortion tourism nationwide. We encourage the Senate to reject this harmful bill that would handcuff state legislatures and put thousands of preborn lives and vulnerable mothers at risk.
