INDIANAPOLIS — Many high-profile legislative items before the Southern Baptist Convention at its annual meeting in Indianapolis were decided on Tuesday, except for arguably the biggest ones.

The convention is scheduled to vote Wednesday morning on a proposed measure to enshrine a ban on women pastors and a resolution condemning the use of in vitro fertilization. The outcome of votes on both items will be a turning point for the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

The resolution on IVF is the first-of-its-kind for the staunchly anti-abortion group of politically influential evangelical Christians. Meanwhile, the constitutional ban on women pastors — commonly called the “Law Amendment” after its original submitter, Virginia pastor Mike Law — is expected to fuel greater division among Southern Baptists over its governance standards.

The denomination already reaffirmed the sentiment behind the Law Amendment on Tuesday when voting delegates, called messengers, overwhelmingly approved the ouster of First Baptist Church Alexandria in Virginia for its egalitarian stance on women in ministry.

Yesterday’s SBC live blog: SBC live updates: Vote on IVF resolution delayed until Wednesday

On Tuesday, the convention also forwarded the work of long-term abuse reform to the SBC’s administrative arm at the expiration of an abuse reform task force. The election for SBC president went to a runoff, the results of which are expected on Wednesday morning.

Follow along for live updates.

New motions target top SBC leaders, public policy arm

Late on Tuesday, the Southern Baptist Convention added additional resolutions to Wednesday’s schedule — all of which could generate heated debate.

One aims to abolish the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, which is the SBC’s public policy arm, and another aims to censure SBC President Bart Barber, Lifeway President Ben Mandrel and Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary over a controversy involving an amicus brief in a Kentucky Supreme Court Case.

Legal counsel representing the SBC, Lifeway and Southern filed the legal brief in a case challenging a law to allow abuse victims to retroactively sue alleged perpetrators.

The SBC’s legal brief, which was filed in a case unrelated to an event in a Southern Baptist facility, sparked outrage partly over the fact the public learned about the filing months after the fact due to a Louisville Courier Journal report.

The motion seeking to abolish the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission is the second of its kind in the past couple years. Messengers soundly defeated the last attempt at the 2022 SBC annual meeting.

Liam Adams covers religion for The Tennessean. Reach him at ladams@tennessean.com or on social media @liamsadams.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: SBC live updates: On last day votes on tap for women pastors ban, IVF