Brent Leatherwood, acting president of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), has been praying and working for years to end the legal murder of children in the womb.
"The way that we got here was through a commitment to pro-life principle, a persistent view of making sure that we were pressing the pro-life case, and patience," he said in a recent podcast. "It took us 50 years."
But he added that as far as the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is concerned, the work is only just beginning.
"This Dobbs case functionally returns the decision of regulating abortion back to the states," Leatherwood noted. "I don't think we are content with where we are. We want to continue pressing the case for life in each of the individual states."
That, he said, will look different in each state. Roughly half of the states are taking steps to limit or end abortion, but in states like California or Vermont, the pro-life movement is "starting from ground zero."
But Leatherwood believes having agile and independent state conventions will allow each state to craft its own battle plan.
"Our state conventions will play a pivotal role in making sure that pre-born policies, policies to protect freeborn lives, are advanced," he concluded, advising church members to "make sure that your pastor is in good communication with your state convention leaders."
