Georgia Baptists approve resolutions on abortion pills, personhood, adoption and foster care

By HENRY DURAND, The Christian Index

Wednesday, November 11, 2026

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — Messengers to the Georgia Baptist Convention’s annual meeting approved resolutions Tuesday opposing the use of abortion pills, affirming the personhood and sanctity of unborn life, and encouraging churches to support adoption and foster care.

One resolution calls for restrictions on the manufacture, sale, and mailing of abortion pills. David Mills, pastor of Beallwood Baptist Church in Columbus and chairman of the Resolutions Committee, told messengers that the increasing use of abortion drugs has changed where many abortions take place, with pills now available by mail and often taken without a physician present.

Another resolution affirms the personhood and sanctity of human life and calls for unborn children to receive legal protection.

Mills drew particular attention to language in the resolution stating that life begins at fertilization rather than conception.

"That is a distinction with a difference,” Mills said, explaining that the wording is intended to include children created through in vitro fertilization.

“The moment an egg is fertilized, that is a human being,” he said, “a person that should enjoy 14th Amendment protections and all the protections outlined in Scripture.”

The resolution also calls for an amendment to the Georgia Constitution recognizing unborn children as persons.

Messengers also approved a resolution encouraging Georgia Baptists to consider adoption and foster care, support families who foster or adopt, and promote ministries serving children in need.

Another resolution expressed appreciation for pastors’ families and children, recognizing the sacrifices they make in ministry and encouraging churches to intentionally demonstrate love, encouragement, and appreciation for them.

Messengers also adopted a resolution of appreciation recognizing Second Baptist Church in Warner Robins, convention leaders, staff, and others who helped host and conduct the annual meeting.

What follows is the full text of the resolutions in the order they were presented:

2026 RESOLUTIONS REPORT

The 2026 Committee on Resolutions has received several communications. We acknowledge each proposal and convey our thanks and appreciation to those who have exercised their right to free and open communication by presenting their views to the Georgia Baptist Convention. The committee has taken each of these proposed resolutions for prayerful consideration and has been unanimous in its deliberations. David Mills, chairman of the Committee on Resolutions, presented the report.

RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION

WHEREAS, the 204th Annual Session of the Georgia Baptist Convention met at Second Baptist Church Warner Robins, Georgia on November 8-11, 2026, in which the messengers representing Georgia Baptist Churches were greeted with Christian grace and warm Southern hospitality; and

WHEREAS, the pastors of Second Baptist Church, the church staff, church members and many volunteers have tirelessly served the needs of every messenger to the Georgia Baptist Convention in fellowship of the Lord: “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14 CSB); and

WHEREAS, the musicians, choirs and worship leaders have provided impactful praise and uplifting celebration in every convention session; and

WHEREAS, Tim Millwood and the Rehoboth Baptist Association, has demonstrated second-mile cooperation, service, and hospitality in preparation for and during the meeting; and

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that we, the messengers of the 204th session of the Georgia Baptist Convention, offer sincere appreciation to the leaders and members of Second Baptist Church for their hospitality and service; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we, the messengers of this session of the Georgia Baptist Convention, express our loving appreciation for and extend our heartfelt gratitude to Steve Browning, president of our beloved Convention; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we, the messengers of this session of the Georgia Baptist Convention, extend honor and thanksgiving to the officers and platform leaders for their guidance and service throughout this meeting; and we express gratitude to Mrs. Beth Browning and family for their loving support of our president and Convention during this past year; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we also express our sincere appreciation and gratitude to God for those who serve on the Georgia Baptist Executive Committee, as well as Georgia Baptist Mission Board staff who faithfully serve the causes of Christ here in Georgia and around the world; and            

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we commend the Committee on Order of Business and Stephen Dervan, Chairman, for the preparation of this inspirational program; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that we, the messengers of this Convention, join our President Steve Browning and Executive Director, Thomas Hammond, in continuing to emphasize and practice the challenging theme, Wide Open, 1 Corinthians 16:9 "For a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries."

RESOLUTION ON APPRECIATION FOR PASTORS' FAMILIES AND CHILDREN

WHEREAS, Scripture reminds us that God opens doors for effective ministry and calls His servants to faithfully walk through them (1 Corinthians 16:9); and

WHEREAS, pastors are called to shepherd God's people while faithfully loving and caring for their own families (1 Timothy 3:4–5; 1 Peter 5:2–3); and

WHEREAS, the spouses and children of pastors share in the joys, opportunities, and sacrifices that accompany a life of pastoral ministry; and

WHEREAS, pastors' children grow up with a unique connection to the life of the local church, often demonstrating patience, understanding, and faithfulness as their families serve; and

WHEREAS, these families are cherished members of our congregations, deserving of our gratitude, encouragement, and Christian love; 

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the messengers to the 204th Annual Meeting of the Georgia Baptist Convention express our heartfelt appreciation for the spouses and children of pastors throughout Georgia, recognizing their love, sacrifices, and contributions to the life of our churches; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we especially celebrate pastors' children, affirming their individual worth, gifts, and importance within the family of God, and expressing our gratitude for their presence in our congregations; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we encourage Georgia Baptist churches to demonstrate intentional love, encouragement, and appreciation toward pastors' families, remembering them regularly in prayer and surrounding them with Christian fellowship; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that as Georgia Baptists embrace the doors God has opened for Gospel ministry, we give thanks for the families who share in that journey and ask God's continued blessings upon them as they grow together in faith, love, and service to our Lord Jesus Christ.

RESOLUTION ON OPPOSING THE USE OF ABORTION PILLS IN OUR SOCIETY

 WHEREAS, Scripture teaches that all human life is sacred, created in the image of God from the moment of conception (Genesis 1:26-28; Psalm 139:13-16; Jeremiah 1:5; Luke 1:41), and that God’s people are called to protect the innocent and speak for those who cannot speak for themselves (Proverbs 31:8-9); and

WHEREAS, The Georgia Baptist Convention has consistently affirmed the dignity and sanctity of preborn life at all stages; and

WHEREAS, we give thanks to God for the United States Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade, ending the federal guarantee of abortion access; and

WHEREAS, despite this legal victory, abortion tragically persists due to the rising prevalence and promotion of chemical abortion, particularly through the drug regimen of mifepristone and misoprostol, which accounted for approximately two-thirds of all abortions; and

WHEREAS, Mifepristone works by blocking the hormone progesterone, depriving the developing baby of necessary nourishment, followed by misoprostol, which induces contractions to expel the deceased child, resulting in both the death of the child and often significant physical, emotional, and always spiritual harm to the mother; and

WHEREAS, Women are often denied full, truthful, and compassionate information about chemical abortion, which is increasingly administered through impersonal and unsafe means like telehealth and mail-order services—methods that can easily be misused or abused—while shield laws in some states enable the mailing of these drugs into states with abortion restrictions, undermining both the rule of law and the protection of unborn life; and

WHEREAS, A 2025 study by the Ethics and Public Policy Center found that serious adverse events—such as hemorrhaging, sepsis, infection, and emergency surgery—occurred in a significantly higher percentage of women who underwent mifepristone abortions than the rates previously reported by the Food and Drug Administration, revealing that the actual risks far exceed what is stated on the drug’s label; and

WHEREAS, these outcomes have been exacerbated by the weakening of the Food and Drug Administration’s safeguards—including the removal of in-person physician oversight and mandatory adverse event reporting—endangering women and reducing public accountability; and

WHEREAS, the original approval process for mifepristone wrongly labeled pregnancy as a “serious or life-threatening illness,” thus treating a natural and healthy condition as a pathology and undermining the dignity of both mother and child; and

WHEREAS, there is no doubt that God’s Word (James 1:27) calls his church to defend both mother and child and to advocate for a culture of life marked by truth, compassion, and care; now

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the messengers to the Georgia Baptist Convention meeting at Second Baptist Church in Warner Robins, Ga, November 8-10, 2026, reaffirm the immeasurable value of every human life, both born and preborn; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we grieve the continued destruction of preborn lives through chemical abortion and condemn the exploitation of women by an abortion industry increasingly reliant on dangerous drugs and deceptive practices; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we call upon the Food and Drug Administration to immediately revoke its approval of mifepristone and any other abortion drug, restore all previously removed safety protocols, and reevaluate chemical abortion drugs using real-world data; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we urge the United States Congress and Georgia State Legislature to pass laws doing as much as they can to reach the goal of totally banning the manufacture, sale, and distribution of chemical abortion drugs; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the federal government enforces the Comstock Act prohibiting the mailing of abortion pills, and to hold accountable pharmaceutical companies and medical providers complicit in these harms; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we encourage pastors, churches, and ministries to speak the truth about abortion, to equip their congregations to care for women in crisis with compassion and practical support, and to proclaim the healing hope of the gospel; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we call on those considering abortion, chemical or otherwise, to pursue alternative solutions which protect and promote the life of the baby and mother; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we commit ourselves to fostering a culture of life through the tangible support of pregnancy resource centers, adoption efforts, maternal health care, and compassionate ministry to post-abortive women; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we commit to pray and labor for the establishment of a society and governmental laws that head in the direction of cherishing and defending every human life from conception to natural death as much as is possible; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we encourage all pastors, churches and Christian ministries to teach on the importance of understanding a Biblical worldview on God’s perspective of the sanctity of all human life; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that copies of this Resolution be forwarded to Georgia’s Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, the Speaker of the House and the sitting state senators and representatives who represent the people of Georgia.

RESOLUTION ON SUPPORT FOR ADOPTION AND FOSTER CARE

WHEREAS, In the gospel we have received the “Spirit of adoption” whereby we are no longer spiritual orphans but are now beloved children of God and joint heirs with Christ (John 14:18; Romans 8:12-25; Galatians 3:27-4:9; Ephesians 1:5); and

WHEREAS, The God we now know as our Father reveals himself as a “father of the fatherless” (Psalm 68:5) who grants mercy to orphans (Deuteronomy 10:18; Hosea 14:3); and

WHEREAS, Our Lord Jesus welcomes the little ones (Luke 18:15-17), pleads for the lives of the innocent (Psalm 72:12-14), and shows us that we will be held accountable for our response to “these little ones” (Mark 9:42); and

WHEREAS, the Scripture defines “pure and undefiled religion” as “to look after orphans and widows in their distress” (James 1:27); and

WHEREAS, the satanic powers and the ravages of sin have warred against infants and children from Pharaoh to Molech to Herod and now, through the horrors of a divorce culture, an abortion industry, and the global plagues of disease, starvation, and warfare; and

WHEREAS, Georgia Baptists have articulated an unequivocal commitment to the sanctity of all human life, born and unborn; and

WHEREAS, churches defined by the Great Commission must be concerned about the evangelism of children—including those who have no parents, family or guardians; and

WHEREAS, Some studies have shown that upward to 140-152 million children worldwide have lost one or both parents; and

WHEREAS, over the years in Georgia 11,000-13,000 children each year have been in the foster care system and 59,000 children in Georgia experience homelessness each year and more than 13,000 of these affected children are under the age of three; and

WHEREAS, Our Heavenly Father loves all these children, and a great multitude of them will never otherwise hear the gospel of Jesus Christ; now,

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the messengers to the 2026 Georgia Baptist Convention meeting at Second Baptist Church in Warner Robins, GA, November 8-10, express our commitment to join our Heavenly Father in seeking mercy for orphans; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we call on each Georgia Baptist family to pray for guidance as to whether God is calling them to adopt or foster a child or children; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we encourage our pastors and church leaders to preach and teach on God’s concern for orphans and that caring for mothers and children should not be an extracurricular activity, but a part of the core of our church ministry; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we encourage our churches to support Mission Georgia in equipping churches to provide care, support and other resources for those called to adopt and foster; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we encourage Georgia Baptist churches to set aside a special Sunday each year to focus upon adoption and foster care and our common burden for the evangelism and missions to orphans here and around the world; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we pray what God is doing in creating an adoption culture in so many churches and families can point us to a gospel oneness that is determined not by “the flesh,” or race, or economics, or cultural sameness, but by the Spirit, unity, and peace in Christ Jesus; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that we pray for an outpouring of God’s Spirit on Georgia Baptist congregations so that our churches will proclaim and picture, in word and in deed, that “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.

RESOLUTION ON PERSONHOOD AND THE SANCTITY OF HUMAN LIFE

WHEREAS, the Bible affirms the personhood, sanctity, dignity and value of every human being from the moment of our individual creation, as evidenced by the fact that we are created in the image of God and are known by God while being formed in the womb (Genesis 1:26-27, James 3:9, Jeremiah 1:5, Luke 1:13-15,35,36); and

WHEREAS, God alone is the Creator and Giver of life and the one distinguishing feature between humanity and the rest of creation is that God created human beings in HIS image and likeness (Job 10:8-12, 12:10, 31:15, 33:4; 1 Samuel 2:6, Psalm 100:3, 139:13-16, Isaiah 64:8, Colossians 1:16); and

WHEREAS, members of the human family originate ultimately from the laws of nature and of nature’s God, who created human life in His image and protected it with the commandment: “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13); and

WHEREAS, all innocent human life must be respected and protected regardless of race, sex, age or condition of dependency and regardless of manner of fertilization and are persons of equal and immeasurable worth and of inviolable dignity (2 Kings 24: 3,4, Psalm 106:37-39, 1 Corinthians 10:20); and

WHEREAS, they must be recognized and treated in a manner commensurate with this moral status (Leviticus 18:21, 30); and

WHEREAS, the Declaration of Independence, states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” and that governments are instituted in order to secure these rights (Romans 13:1-7), and

WHEREAS, the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states, “nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law" (Micah 6:7,8); and

WHEREAS, the Georgia Baptist Convention believes that the Scriptures are inerrant, trustworthy, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried (Psalm 19:7-10, 2 Timothy 3:16, Hebrews 4:12); and

WHEREAS, the Georgia Baptist Convention has a long Biblical tradition of strong support for traditional family values including the right to life for all persons in Georgia from fertilization to natural death;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Georgia Baptist Convention will work to assist the Church as it seeks to affirm the personhood of every human being; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Georgia Baptist Convention expresses its support for an amendment to the Georgia Constitution which would specify that the protections guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution apply to preborn children; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that all Georgia Baptist pastors and churches be encouraged to emphasize the Scriptural principles of this resolution as part of Sanctity of Human Life Sunday; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the messengers to the Georgia Baptist Convention meeting at Second Baptist Church in Warner Robins, Georgia on November 9-10, 2026, encourage all believers to pray that God will continue changing the hearts and minds of Americans on the Gospel, the issues of the sanctity of human life, and the personhood of all individuals, both born and preborn; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that copies of this Resolution be forwarded to those seated in 2027 in the Georgia Government and leadership, including the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, the Speaker of the House, State Senators and Representatives, and United States Senators and Representatives who represent the people of Georgia.

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Caption: Messengers to the Annual Meeting of the Georgia Baptist Convention vote during a session on Monday, Nov. 9. (Index/Henry Durand)