{"id":326764,"date":"2025-02-23T13:42:33","date_gmt":"2025-02-23T19:42:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=326764"},"modified":"2025-02-23T10:34:45","modified_gmt":"2025-02-23T16:34:45","slug":"southern-baptist-defund-planned-parenthood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/southern-baptist-defund-planned-parenthood\/","title":{"rendered":"Southern Baptist Convention&#8217;s ERLC calls on Congress to defund Planned Parenthood"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p>The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC)&#8217;s\u00a0 Ethics &amp; Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) has sent <a href=\"https:\/\/erlc.com\/policy-content\/asking-congress-to-defund-planned-parenthood\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an open letter<\/a> to Congress, calling on lawmakers to defund Planned Parenthood.<\/p>\n<p>The ERLC sent its letter to the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, arguing that the killing of preborn children should no longer be subsidized by American tax dollars.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe American people should not be forced to subsidize an organization that profits from the deaths of innocent lives. \u2026 Many Americans do not want their tax money supporting an organization that profits from the loss of preborn lives and the exploitation of mothers, particularly one with $2.1 billion in annual revenue and more than $2.5 billion in net assets,\u201d the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baptistpress.com\/resource-library\/news\/erlc-urges-congress-to-defund-planned-parenthood\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">letter states<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>ERLC President Brent Leatherwood explained that the organization is hoping that the Trump administration will continue its trajectory of pro-life policies by defunding the abortion giant.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ: <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/grandmother-pardoned-pro-life-activism-obedience\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Grandmother pardoned after pro-life activism: \u2018I was doing this in obedience to His word\u2019<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe ERLC released its campaign to defund Planned Parenthood that is built on previous pro-life wins,\u201d Leatherwood told the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baptistpress.com\/resource-library\/news\/erlc-urges-congress-to-defund-planned-parenthood\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Baptist Press<\/a>. \u201cPresident Trump has already reinstated the Hyde Amendment, but now we need Congress to take the next logical step to make the defunding of Planned Parenthood permanent through the reconciliation process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In its letter, the SBC affirms its pro-life stance, saying:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>Southern Baptists affirm the sanctity of every human life, including the preborn. Scripture testifies that every person is made in the image of God (Gen. 1:27) and that life begins at conception (Psa. 139:13-16).\u00a0The Baptist Faith and Message\u00a0proclaims that children, from the moment of conception, are \u201ca blessing and heritage from the Lord.\u201d As followers of Christ, we must advocate for protecting vulnerable preborn lives and oppose organizations and practices that undermine the value of life.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Leatherwood told the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianpost.com\/news\/its-time-sbc-calls-on-congress-to-defund-planned-parenthood.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Christian Post<\/a> that though the abortion giant positions itself as a leader in health care, its primary goal has always been to end preborn lives.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTheir driving concern is to target vulnerable mothers and end the pre-born life that is within them,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to protect those mothers, and we obviously want to protect those children. And the best way for Congress to do that right now is to defund Planned Parenthood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said, \u201cFor 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The ERLC is still seeking signatures for its open letter and is encouraging all Southern Baptists <a href=\"https:\/\/erlc.com\/policy-content\/asking-congress-to-defund-planned-parenthood\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">to sign<\/a> it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe encourage all Southern Baptists to sign on to this letter in order to save lives, serve mothers, and make sure the consciences of millions of pro-life Americans are protected,\u201d Leatherwood said. \u201cTogether, we can work to end this atrocity at the hands of Planned Parenthood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Live Action is also running its own petition calling on government officials to defund Planned Parenthood and that can be signed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/end-taxpayer-dollars-to-planned-parenthood\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/actnow.io\/Vety0KE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-325597 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/LA25DefundPP_EmailBannerAd-02-1-700x251.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"251\" srcset=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/LA25DefundPP_EmailBannerAd-02-1-700x251.png 700w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/LA25DefundPP_EmailBannerAd-02-1-300x107.png 300w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/LA25DefundPP_EmailBannerAd-02-1-768x275.png 768w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/LA25DefundPP_EmailBannerAd-02-1-500x179.png 500w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/LA25DefundPP_EmailBannerAd-02-1.png 1167w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC)&#8217;s\u00a0 Ethics &amp; Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) has sent an open letter to Congress, calling on lawmakers to defund Planned Parenthood. The ERLC sent its letter to the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, arguing that the killing of preborn children should no longer be subsidized by American tax dollars. \u201cThe [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":607,"featured_media":275199,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[4,3473],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Southern Baptist Convention&#039;s ERLC calls on Congress to defund Planned Parenthood<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Southern Baptist Convention: &#039;People should not be forced to subsidize an organization that profits from the deaths of innocent lives.&#039;\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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