​While other denominations like the United Methodists have recently veered toward more inclusive stances, Southern Baptists are voting to stick to their traditional doctrines and values.

Weighing in on two hot-button women’s issues, the Southern Baptist Convention voted on Wednesday to oppose in vitro fertilization, while also rejecting a constitutional ban on female pastors.

More: Southern Baptist Convention elects next president after two runoff votes

The vote opposing in vitro fertilization, widely known as IVF, came via a resolution approved by delegates, called messengers, gathered for the second day of the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting. More than 10,000 messengers representing the nation’s largest Protestant denomination joined together Tuesday and Wednesday in Indianapolis, Indiana, for preaching, business matters and opportunties to weigh in on some of the most hotly debated issues of the day.

The Rev. Doug Melton, longtime senior pastor of Southern Hills Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, said Southern Baptists — Oklahoma’s largest faith group — were not condemning IVF, but sharing their concern about the practice of discarding some human embryos generated through the process.

“I don’t want people to think we are saying IVF is wrong, it’s a concern over every single embryo,” he said.

“We believe that the Bible teaches that from the moment of conception, that is a soul, that is a human being, and it’s made in the image of God. It was knitted together in its mother’s womb by God. That’s what we believe about the embryo.”

The denomination’s resolution on the “ethical realities of reproductive technologies and the dignity of the human embryo” came amid the ongoing national debate on in vitro fertilization that arose after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos created through in vitro fertilization should be considered children. The Alabama Legislature passed a law protecting IVF treatments, about a month after the state’s high court made its controversial ruling in February.

Wednesday, several messengers asked to change the wording of the resolution being considered to make it less likely that it would be seen as condemning IVF, a path to parenthood for millions of people across the country. Two men asking for language modifications and a woman who spoke in favor of the resolution amounted to the sparse discussion about the resolution before it was approved.

Daniel Taylor, of Michigan, talked about his godson who whose parents chose IVF in their quest to have a child.

“The child that was born was a gift from God … because of him, I thank God for IVF,” Taylor said.

He told the crowd that he was proposing an amendment to the resolution’s language so it did not seem to proclaim IVF as “a wicked thing,” and also potentially make it more difficult for Southern Baptists to evangelize people who have used IVF.

Zach Haddock, of Ohio, said he and his wife have children through the use of IVF. He spoke in favor of Taylor’s amendment because he supported both the sanctity of life and IVF, suggesting that the reproductive technology could be used while simultaneously trusting in the sovereignty of God.

“I am against the idea that this technology is so wicked that it can not be employed,” he said.

But Monica Hall, of Kentucky, argued in favor of the resolution as it was presented by the denomination’s resolution’s committee. She said it gave Southern Baptists an opportunity to be “a voice of biblical truth and clarity in this pressing cultural issue.”

Hall said she used IVF and two of the “babies we adopted as embryos” died before she could even hear their hearts beating. She described the embryos as “frozen, left over from someone’s else’s IVF cycle, donated, thawed and then transferred” into her womb.

“Those are chilling phrases to describe a human being created in the image of God,” she said. “Nothing in the process of IVF upholds the sanctity of life,” Hall said.

Resolutions are seen as the denomination’s way of expressing opinions or concerns about a variety of topics. The resolutions are nonbinding, but they have always been an important way for Southern Baptists to share their thoughts on relevant — and often controversial ― topics.

Second vote on female pastors

Southern Baptists got an opportunity to vote for a second time on an amendment to the denomination’s constitution that would have defined a church in “friendly cooperation” with the faith group as one that “affirms, appoints, or employs only men as any kind of pastor or elder as qualified by Scripture.”

Melton said the amendment needed messengers to take two votes with a two-thirds majority of approval to be adopted. Although the amendment received the two-thirds majority approval at last year’s annual meeting, he said he wasn’t surprised that it did not receive enough votes the second time around on Wednesday.

He said this year, more Southern Baptists understood that the denomination’s statement of faith, the Baptist Faith & Message, already prohibits women from holding the position of pastor, in accordance with Scripture.

“The theology of the Southern Baptists has not changed on that issue,” Melton said. “There was just more understanding that the confessional statement that we have, that Scripture teaches that women are not to serve as the pastor of church.”

The Rev. Blake Gideon, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Edmond, said women play a vital and valuable role in ministry, bringing unique gifts, perspectives and talents to the church.

“While the role of pastor has been historically (based on 1 Timothy 3:1-7) reserved for men, it is important to recognize and affirm the diverse ways in which women can lead, teach and serve in the church,” Gideon said.

“The vote against the amendment has put the Southern Baptist Convention on a new trajectory and where this decision takes us only time will tell.”

New president elected

The Rev. Clint Pressley, senior pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, was elected as the denomination’s next president on Wednesday, while an Oklahoman, the Rev. Brad Graves, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Ada, was elected as the faith group’s first vice president.

The Rev. Mike Keahbone, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Lawton, was one of six men nominated for the president, but he did not receive enough votes to be placed in the first of two runoffs. In the second runoff, Pressley emerged with more votes than the Rev. Dan Spencer, senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Sevierville, Tennessee.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Southern Baptist Convention discussed embryos, female pastors