Gov. Matt Bevin asked Kentucky Baptist pastors where they stood on the issue of abortion during a video on his campaign Faceback page.
Bevin was questioning the first TV advertisement of the campaign season from his gubernatorial opponent, Democratic candidate Andy Beshear who, in the ad, speaks of his family’s Baptist roots, saying both his grandfather and great-grandfather were Baptist ministers.
While not questioning whether Beshear’s grandfather and great-grandfather were Baptist ministers, Bevin said if they were, they wouldn’t have had the same feelings about abortion as his opponent.
Bevin said the ad was “insulting to the Baptist tradition” because of Beshear’s pro-abortion stance.
“I think it’s insulting to people of Baptist faith to try to couch what his grandfather and great-grandfather did as sort of covering for his pro-abortion stance,” he said. “Andy Beshear is pro-abortion, it’s as simple as that. Abortion on demand, abortion at any stage in the life of a child. I’m strongly opposed to this. I stand firmly unapologetic and clearly on the side of life. It’s a right that we are endowed with by our Creator. Our founders of our nation understood this and wrote this into our founding documents.”
Bevin has made abortion a campaign issue from the beginning. Last week at Fancy Farm, he pulled out an oversized invitation to a Beshear fundraiser that was hosted by the only abortion provider in Kentucky the night prior.
Later in the video, Bevin appealed to Kentucky Baptist pastors about their feelings on abortion.
“I’m asking every pastor of every Baptist church in Kentucky to weigh in and tell us where you stand on this issue. On the issue of life, which side are you on? There’s no middle ground here, this is not a time to hold your powder dry or wait and see what someone else is doing.”
Dr. Todd Gray, who recently was named the new executive director-treasurer of the Kentucky Baptist Convention that includes 2,400 Baptist churches and 750,000 members, addressed the issue on social media.
“Thanks to @andybeshearky and @govmattbevin for bringing up the issue of abortion. @kentuckybaptist will always be pro-life from the womb to the tomb,” he said on Twitter.
On Facebook he repeated the Twitter post and added this: “@kentuckybaptist believe all people are created in the image of God. We will defend life at any stage. Proverbs 31:9.”