‘This is the moment to act’: SBC calls on Congress to defund Planned Parenthood

February 18, 2025

The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) is pushing for Congress to stop federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

The Christian Post reports that the ERLC has launched a campaign calling for the defunding of the nation’s leading abortion provider as part of the reconciliation process currently underway in Congress.

This process allows for a measure to pass by a simple majority in the U.S. Senate, rather than requiring the usual 60-vote minimum threshold.

ERLC President Brent Leatherwood told the Christian Post, “Republicans have had historic commitments and made pledges that see clearly the evil that Planned Parenthood is responsible for, the millions of deaths of preborn children, and the ways that they target vulnerable mothers.”

Leatherwood added, “And with the reconciliation process beginning with a Republican House, a Republican Senate, and a Republican-controlled White House, we think now is the time to follow through on those commitments and fully defund Planned Parenthood so that taxpayer resources aren’t going to this sort of horrific behavior and activity.”

According to the Christian Post, pro-life activists and lawmakers have worked for the past two decades to halt the annual flow of millions of dollars in federal funding to Planned Parenthood.

Opponents of efforts to defund Planned Parenthood say that the organization provides other reproductive health services and argues that a loss of taxpayer funding would endanger women’s health.

Leatherwood told the Christian Post that he believes Planned Parenthood “are about the business of ending life” and that other medical services are “not their driving concern.”

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