INDIANAPOLIS -- Donald Trump on Monday urged an anti-abortion Christian group to stand up for "innocent life," revisiting an issue that Democrats have sought to make a focus of this year's presidential election. The former president and presumptive Republican nominee's pre-recorded message praised the work of those attending the event hosted by The Danbury Institute, which is meeting in Indianapolis in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. The newly formed institute is an association of churches, Christians and organizations that opposes abortion.
A panel of in-person speakers reiterated that anti-abortion stance on Monday, and a top Southern Baptist leader called for a hard-line position against in vitro fertilization. Albert Mohler, the president of the SBC's flagship seminary, said IVF is a "commodification of the embryo" that assaults human dignity. He criticized pastors as well as politicians who've shown openness to IVF, including in Alabama, which shielded IVF providers from prosecution and civil lawsuits after a state Supreme Court ruling said frozen embryos are children.
"We're about to find out how pro-life the pro-life movement is," Mohler said. Trump has repeatedly taken credit for the Supreme Court decision that overturned a federally guaranteed right to abortion -- having nominated three of the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade -- but has resisted supporting a national abortion ban and says he wants to leave the issue to the s.