Republicans say they want to protect IVF but actually refuse to do it
Republicans vow they want to protect in vitro fertilization — even as they prepare to introduce a Democratic bill to do so. “I strongly support IVF,” Sen Ted Cruz speak Wednesday. “That’s not the thing [Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer] is doing this week as he plays politics.”
Cruz, along with Republican Sen Katie Britt, introduced their own IVF bill on Wednesday, which would withhold Medicaid funding from states that block these services — but would still allow restrictions on them, as Democrats Democrats pointed out when they blocked the law. “Calling your bill the IVF Protection Act without doing anything to protect IVF is despicable,” Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth, who had two children through IVF, said of the GOP-backed legislation. “It’s like an arsonist selling you fire insurance that doesn’t cover arson.”
Democratic Party—led by Duckworth and Patty Murray, who has registered opposition to Cruz-Britt’s “PR stunt” — is bringing a more comprehensive IVF protection bill to the floor Thursday: It wouldn’t just prevent states from restricting IVF; it will seek to expand access. “These are real solutions that can help tens of thousands of Americans each year build the families of their dreams,” Duckworth said. But Republicans say Democrats are playing politics — and indicate they will almost uniformly oppose the legislation, on the grounds that it “infringes on religious freedoms and protections, ” as Britt said. put it.
“The bottom line is that the American people deserve better, Britt. speakaccused Democrats of engaging in “scare tactics.”
While there is a lot of political messaging at play here with these dueling bills, the view is that Democrats’ warnings about the safety of IVF under Republican rule are just that. intended as “scare tactics” is laughable. Conservatives have spent decades focused on overturning abortion protections codified by the fish eggsand finally was successful in 2022 with the right-wing Supreme Court Dobbs decision. The right has sought to build on that victory ever since, including attacks on the Contraception And medical abortion. Access to the latter is donate now by the Supreme Court on Thursday, when it ruled that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the Food and Drug Administration’s approach to mifepristone. But threats to reproductive health care remain present: Donald TrumpThe former president appointed three of the six ousted Supreme Court justices fish eggs, swear in virtual remarks Monday to work “side by side” with the Danbury Institute, a radical anti-abortion Christian coalition. “Your work is important,” Trump told the group as members gathered in Indianapolis for the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, where voted Wednesday to protest IVF.
“It took us 50 years to defeat it fish eggs,” Brent leatherchair of the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Committee, speak Politics. “It can take us a similarly long time to get people to a place where they’re thinking more deeply about things like this. It’s OK. It takes time. We must be patient.”
DobbsThat in itself has been a major political liability for Republicans over the past two years and they have every incentive to put political distance between themselves and those in their movement seeking to bring the crusade Theirs goes much further. But Democrats should continue to clarify what Republican leadership means for reproductive rights in America: “The threat to IVF is not hypothetical,” Murray told reporters Wednesday, citing a ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court decision in February to designate the embryo as human. “Republican efforts to dismiss this vote as fear-mongering simply will not succeed.”
