Trump celebrated the 4th of July, signing the “Big Beautiful Bill” into law after the House of Representatives approved its reconciliation with the Senate version. The Evangelical reaction has been mostly positive. But what is interesting is that the Southern Baptist Convention has joined in the celebration despite its conflicting interests with the signed law’s content.
The Southern Baptist Convention has made amnesty for illegal aliens a legislative priority. This contradicts the BBB, which is comprehensive immigration reform written in the only language Congress understands: an omnibus spending package. Thus, the bill contains good and bad stuff, but delivers on the mandate of mass deportation, which the Southern Baptist Convention, as a denomination, opposes, despite Southern Baptists being the largest rightwing denomination in America.
But the Southern Baptist Convention is latching onto the one carrot that an Evangelical institution cannot deny: defunding Planned Parenthood. The SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission stated on Thursday:
For the first time in our nation’s history, Congress has advanced a bill to the president’s desk that would defund Planned Parenthood! This is a remarkable victory for the cause of life. Here’s what this moment means and what’s next.
The spending bill passed both chambers. Once signed into law by President Trump, it will block taxpayer dollars from flowing to abortion providers through Medicaid funds for one year, setting a powerful precedent for future pro-life action.
This bill also includes other key prolife and profamily priorities from our 2025 Public Policy Agenda:
•Increased Child Tax Credit
•Refundable Adoption Tax Credit
•Non-itemizer charitable giving deduction
For years, Southern Baptists have called on Congress to defund the abortion industry. Today, that persistence has paid off.
The last line pretends that the ERLC had anything to do with the victory they celebrated, but the ERLC has worked harder in 2025 to maintain the appearance of activity after mounting scrutiny over what lobbying they perform.
In truth, the defunding of Planned Parenthood has come a little late to do lasting damage to the abortion industry, as Big Pharma will do to Planned Parenthood what Amazon did to many retail businesses. But a year without Medicaid is a huge blow that could shutter a lot of their locations.
The SBC does not make mention of the comprehensive immigration reform included in the legislation.
