Illinois Baptist State Association Executive Director Nate Adams provided a statement regarding today’s (June 24) U.S. Supreme Court decision in the abortion case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. The Court’s decision overturned the nearly 50-year-old Roe v. Wade ruling, calling it unconstitutional and returned the decision of whether or not to legalize abortion to individual states.
Adams stated, “Like many who share the biblical conviction that life begins at conception, and that every life is sacred, I have for most of my life lived with an underlying sadness over the prevalence of abortion. With that sadness has also come a feeling of helplessness, since the 1973 Supreme Court case known as Roe v. Wade granted legal protection for what has now become millions of abortions, and since cultural acceptance of the practice has grown over those years.
“Now the Supreme Court has voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. But the initial sense of victory, justice for the unborn, and relief from the sadness will not last long, nor should it. This is no time for triumphalism. State by state, community by community, family by family, and election by election, the biblical and moral case for the sanctity of life must continue to be made by churches and believers, and now more lovingly and winsomely than ever. We must care sacrificially for mothers and families, and provide them with life-giving options. With this victory for life must come a renewed commitment by churches to share the love of God, and to invite expectant parents to find in that love why life is the right choice.”
Illinois Baptists have spoken through resolutions against abortion as messengers, most recently in 2017 and 2019, which can be read here.
Newly elected SBC President Bart Barber has also issued a statement in response to the ruling.
In anticipation of the Court’s ruling, messengers to the 2022 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting spoke against abortion through a resolution at its June meeting in Anaheim. The resolution, “On Anticipation of a Historic Moment in the Pro-life Movement,” may be read here.
Related:
Supreme Court overturns Roe abortion decision
Explainer: Supreme Court rules no constitutional right to abortion