US Southern Baptist Church opposes IVF in vote

The Southern Baptist Convention has approved a resolution opposing in vitro fertilisation (IVF) at its annual convention.

The resolution urged its congregants to only support reproductive technologies that affirm the "unconditional value and right to life of every human being, including those in an embryonic stage", and criticized IVF.

A separate proposed measure to only allow men to be pastors narrowly failed in a vote on Wednesday.

The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant denomination in the US.

The association includes 47,000 Baptist churches and has nearly 13 million members. They met for their convention in Indianapolis this year.

The IVF measure shows the success of a push from a faction of the church to support more conservative measures in the wake of the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v Wade, which had guaranteed women the right to an abortion nationally.

The resolution, which is nonbinding, described IVF as "dehumanising" and asked the government "to restrain" the practice.

The SBC describes resolutions as a chance for participants of the convention to "express a consensus statement on timely public issues", though they are not enforceable rules.

The vote comes on the heels of a February court decision in the state of Alabama that ruled that frozen embryos are considered children.

At the time, that led at least three IVF clinics to pause treatment and led to some political pushback for Republicans who supported the effort.

State lawmakers later passed a bill to protect IVF clinics and doctors from lawsuits and criminal prosecution.

Earlier on Wednesday, the SBC also voted 61.4% to 38.4% in favour of a ban on women pastors, but a two-thirds majority was required to amend the church's constitution.

In a written statement, Meredith Stone, the executive director of Baptist Women in Ministry, said she was "grieved" but "grateful" for the result of the women pastor vote.

"Even though the amendment did not pass, we are also grieved that this vote has ever even taken place," she said.

The amendment still received a majority vote, a fact that Ms Stone said "demonstrates that women in ministry are still devalued".

"Millions of women have heard as the incorrect message that they do not have equal value to God."

Proponents of the amendment say opposition to women pastors makes the church's position more clear on liberal issues, such as LGBT rights.

The amendment also would have strengthened and hastened the ability to remove woman-led churches.

However, opponents said the process for removal is already fairly efficient.

On Tuesday, a church in Virginia that has a female pastor for women and children was expelled after a majority of delegates voted for removal.

Five other churches with female lead or senior pastors were removed last year.

“We have shown that the mechanisms we currently have are sufficient to deal with this question,” Spence Shelton, a North Carolina pastor, said from the floor, opposing the amendment.