The National Republican Senatorial Committee directed candidates to “clearly and concisely reject efforts by the government to restrict IVF” in a memo released Friday following the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that has prompted some medical clinics to pause the procedure—as Democrats have sought to blame the GOP for the controversial decision.
Sens. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., right, and Rick Scott, R-Fla., are seen after the senate luncheons ... [+]
The NRSC cited the “public’s overwhelming support for IVF and fertility treatments” in the memo, referencing a survey conducted by former President Donald Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway that found 85% of respondents, including 86% of women, support increased access to fertility-related procedures and services.
The directive comes a week after the all-Republican Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos—including eggs fertilized outside of a woman’s body—are children under the law, prompting several medical clinics in the state to pause IVF treatments as they work through the implications of the ruling.
Some Republicans have struggled to address the ruling or haven’t commented at all, with some seeming confused by the facts of the case, while Democrats have sought to link it to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, a decision widely supported by the GOP.
The NRSC memo tells candidates to oppose restrictions on IVF, campaign on increasing access and accuses Democrats of using the ruling as “fodder . . . to manipulate the issue for electoral gain.”
Some Republicans, including Reps. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) firmly denounced IVF restrictions in the wake of the ruling, while others, including former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), were unclear about their positions. Haley initially said “embryos . . . are children,” a response widely viewed as an endorsement of the ruling, before clarifying she didn’t necessarily agree with the decision. Tuberville, meanwhile, said he was “all for” the decision, but expressed support for procedures to promote pregnancy, while acknowledging “that’s a hard one, it really is, it’s really hard” when asked what he would say to women in Alabama whose IVF treatments have been paused as a result of the ruling.
Former President Donald Trump, who has taken credit for the overturning of Roe v. Wade through his appointment of conservative justices who voted to upend the federal right to abortion, has yet to respond to the Alabama ruling.
Democrats in the wake of the Alabama decision seized on the opportunity to hammer Republicans who supported the overturning of Roe v. Wade, as abortion continues to dominate Democrats’ messaging strategy in the 2024 election cycle. President Joe Biden’s campaign blamed the ruling on the “extreme MAGA Reproductive Agenda” in a statement, warning “if Donald Trump is elected, there is no question that he will impose his extreme anti-freedom agenda on the entire country.”
The Alabama Supreme Court ruled last week that embryos are effectively children, allowing three couples who sued medical facilities that accidentally discarded their frozen embryos to move forward with wrongful death claims. The ruling threatens to upend the routine practice of freezing embryos, and discarding unused ones, by potentially opening patients or providers up to legal liability. Without the frozen embryos, patients seeking to get pregnant through IVF could be forced to undergo multiple rounds of physically and financially draining egg retrievals if they are unable to conceive through the initial implantation.