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In February, the Alabama Supreme Court made a landmark decision, ruling that any embryo created through in vitro fertilization (IVF) should be considered a human being — an expansion upon the pro-life arguments forwarded by conservatives for decades. Since that ruling, IVF clinics across the state have begun closing their doors and some are even shipping embryos out of state for fear of legal repercussions.
Republican politicians like Sen. Katie Britt are now scrambling to contain the political fallout of the controversial decision. In July, Britt appeared on ABC News to express her and other Republicans’ support for access to IVF saying, “IVF is pro-life. It’s pro-woman, it’s pro-family. It is exactly what the Republican Party stands for.”
Britt even attacked Democrats for supposedly misconstruing the Alabama Supreme Court decision and misrepresenting it to the American people, accusing Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, of “trying to make it seem like Republicans don’t support IVF, which couldn’t be further from the truth. The truth is IVF is available and accessible in all 50 states across this country.”
Even if limiting access to IVF was not the intention behind the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling, it is undeniable that IVF treatment is now far less accessible to Alabamians than it had been prior to the decision.
Now, as Democrats ramp up their efforts to get Kamala Harris and running mate Tim Walz into the White House in November, they are using Alabama and the IVF ruling as political tools to disparage the Republican Party and rally their supporters.
On Tuesday, former First Lady Michelle Obama addressed the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and incorporated IVF into her speech as a critical talking point. Obama herself became a mother through IVF and warned that a GOP victory in November could threaten future access to the treatment.
“Cutting our healthcare, taking away our freedom to control our bodies, the freedom to become a mother through IVF like I did—those things are not going to improve the health outcomes of our wives, mothers, and daughters,” Obama said.
Her comments echoed those of Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth who had addressed the convention earlier that day and specifically pointed to the Alabama Supreme Court ruling as a sign of GOP policy-to-come: “If they win, Republicans will not stop at banning abortion. They will come for IVF next. They’ll prosecute doctors. They’ll shame and spy on women.”
Like Britt and her Republican colleagues in the Senate, former President Donald Trump says that he supports access to IVF and that he would “continue to strongly support the availability of IVF” if reelected. The Associated Press has also reported that Trump has called on Alabama lawmakers to preserve access to IVF as Democrats continue to use the February ruling as a talking point in their electoral strategy.
