The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission is the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest Protestant denomination. For a long time, the ERLC has been run by liberals, and so it has been ineffective in representing Southern Baptists. Over the last two years, the Southern Baptist Convention’s policy arm has been tasked with Brent Leatherwood’s, its president, personal pet projects, such as suppressing the Nashville Manifesto.
Following the election of Donald Trump, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission wrote a letter advocating five policies for the first 100 days.
1. Reinforce policies that ensure the government does not fund abortion.
The Hyde Amendment and similar provisions ensure that the federal government cannot directly fund abortion. Each year during the appropriations process, there is a risk that these pro-life provisions will not be included for the upcoming fiscal year. The ERLC asks the Trump administration to affirm continued support for these pro-life policies upon taking office.
The ERLC has been a terrible advocate for life. They are uninformed as to how meaningless the Hyde Amendment is, as the government funds abortion through its various health agencies. The ones that nobody mentions are the health care plans of individuals who receive Advance Premium Tax Credits (APTC) to plans that fund abortion. This request touches upon political footballs like funding international abortion, but doesn’t even approach a meaningful change.
2. Withhold government funding for abortion providers, domestically and abroad.
Several government programs, such as USAID and Title X, provide contracts or grants to entities for family planning and related projects. The ERLC asks the Trump administration to reinstate the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance Policy (formerly known as the Mexico City Policy) and similar Title X policies, which barred entities that perform or counsel for abortions domestically and abroad from receiving government funds.
The ERLC has 5 priorities and 2 of them are the exact same. If they can’t take themselves seriously, how can they expect Trump to take them seriously?
3. Revoke President Biden’s executive order directing agencies to implement radical gender and sexuality policies.
The ERLC asks the Trump administration to undo a harmful executive order (EO), “Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation,” signed by President Biden. This EO directed each federal agency to develop new policies that promote “gender transitions” and violate religious liberty to support unbiblical views of gender and sexuality.
This is a valid policy recommendation, but asking Trump to rescind an executive order that he likely would otherwise isn’t ambitious and doesn’t justify the 7 figure funding they receive.
4. Rescind the anti-life, anti-religious liberty, and pro-gender ideology policies advanced by the Biden administration.
The ERLC asks the Trump administration to undo several federal rules finalized by the Biden administration to uphold religious liberty, empower parents, and shield children from dangerous gender ideology, starting by:
- revoking rules that require coverage of “transgender” surgeries and procedures,
- undoing rules that redefine Title IX to include sexual orientation and gender identity, and
- repealing rules that prohibit parents with biblical beliefs on gender and sexuality from fostering children in need.
Yet again the ERLC is redundant. The 4 priorities could have been consolidated into to. 3 & 4 are simply asking Trump to rescind woke executive orders. That’s a single request with multiple applications, not multiple requests.
5. Reverse the Biden administration’s actions that expanded “access” to the abortion pill.
Despite the fact that 1 in 5 women who take the chemical abortion drug mifepristone experience medical complications, the Biden administration took several steps to expand “access” to the drug by allowing it be prescribed through telehealth and available at local pharmacies. The ERLC looks forward to the day the abortion pill is prohibited entirely and asks the Trump administration, at a minimum, to reverse these actions which have cost preborn lives and threatened the health and safety of women.
Indeed, the Biden Administration used Covid to proliferate abortion pills via telehealth. It should be easy to end these “emergency” measures. For years, the ERLC has denied the reality and implications of mifepristone abortions, because the ERLC believes that women are the second victim of abortion. This is increasingly difficult to maintain when the only abortionist in a chemical abortion is the mother. Nevertheless, this is a good policy recommendation, and they should have led with it.
The Trump letter represents the worst that Southern Baptists have to offer, in terms of competency.
