Louisiana Baptists fail to adopt abortion abolition resolution

 By Baptist Message Staff - Posted at Baptist Press:

Published November 18, 2024

SHREVEPORT, La. – Louisiana Baptists’ 2024 Committee on Resolutions reported at the convention’s 2024 annual meeting that it had declined to recommend a resolution it had received, “The Abolition of Self-Managed Abortion in Louisiana,” from Brian Gunter, a messenger and pastor with First Baptist Church, Livingston.

During a time of discussion about the resolutions report, Gunter asked messengers to vote to pull his proposed resolution out of committee, leading to a floor debate. Gunter shared that this is the third year he had come before the messengers, asking them to adopt a statement on the matter.

“I’m going to bring this matter to your attention year after year, because some in our state convention of churches have repeatedly opposed our efforts to unify our churches in calling for the abolition of all abortion in our state,” he said. “So, the question for us today is this – should every human life be equally protected by law in the state of Louisiana? My answer is a resounding yes, and yet some have stood against me in the fight for life.

“Maybe someone would like to come before this microphone and explain why he believes that children in the womb should not have the same right to life as you and me,” he continued. “Please come explain why you believe that self-managed abortion must remain legal for women in Louisiana. Please explain why you believe that a child’s life should not be fully protected until after that child is born.

“Oh, and don’t forget, we aren’t a convention of politicians,” he said. “We are a convention of churches. [If] you want to convince us that self-managed abortion should remain legal for women in the state of Louisiana, then you’ll have to make your case from the Bible. But you can’t do that, and we all know it. The Bible is extremely clear – ‘you shall not murder.’ There are no exceptions. Murdering anyone should be illegal for everyone, and frankly it’s shameful that it has taken us three years to make such a statement.”

Speaking against the motion, Committee on Resolutions Chairman Fieldon Thigpen, pastor of Memorial Baptist Church in Bogalusa, shared that the committee decided not to bring Gunter’s resolution out of committee after the group had researched the abortion abolitionist movement (Abolitionists Rising) with which Gunter has aligned. (That movement and others like it call for criminal prosecution of women who obtain abortions.)

Read more here.

See also:

• Heidelminicast Q&A: What About the Abolitionist Rising Movement? | The Heidelblog