In response to congressional Republicans’ desperate attempts to avoid talking about their extreme position on in vitro fertilization and Donald Trump’s own deep ties to the anti-IVF movement, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement:
“Facts are facts: Donald Trump and his MAGA allies like Mike Johnson have spent years pushing an extreme anti-choice agenda to rip away Americans’ basic rights, and if given the chance, MAGA Republicans will put IVF at risk for every American. Trump used his time in office to elevate extreme anti-choice ideologues who oppose IVF access. Now, Johnson has made it clear that he doesn’t think Congress should protect IVF at all – instead, he and his far-right allies want to pass a national abortion ban that would also threaten access to IVF for Americans trying to grow or start their families. Voters see right through MAGA Republicans’ desperate excuses to hide their extreme platform that would ban abortion and put basic access to IVF on the chopping block, and they will reject the GOP’s unpopular anti-freedom agenda in November.”
MAGA Mike Johnson and his clown caucus are desperately trying to hold together their faltering coalition of anti-choice activists and openly dismissing the need for any IVF protections.
CNN: “Johnson dismisses need for IVF legislation as GOP wrestles with reproductive issues”
“‘It’s not my belief that Congress needs to play a role here,’ the Louisiana Republican told reporters at the annual Republican issues conference held at The Greenbrier, a resort in West Virginia. ‘I think this is being handled by the states.’”
“In a remarkable split screen illustrating how the parties are handling the issue heading into November, Vice President Kamala Harris will visit a Planned Parenthood clinic in Minnesota also later Thursday, marking a significant and high-level visit to an abortion provider where she is expected to walk through the facility and speak with staff about reproductive rights.
“Efforts in the Democratically-controlled Senate to protect IVF have also struggled to advance, as a pair of legislative efforts were blocked by Republicans in recent weeks. Democrats tried to pass bills on IVF based on unanimous consent, a process that is faster than usual Senate procedure but allows any one Senate member to object to advancing the legislation, something Republican senators did both times.”
Donald Trump has worked for years with the country’s most extreme, far-right personalities bent on ripping away access to IVF, and elevated some to positions of power.
HuffPost: “Donald Trump Has Deep Ties To Anti-IVF Movement”
“Like many Republicans, Trump’s words of support don’t align with his past actions on IVF. The current Republican presidential nominee ― who has repeatedly bragged about his role in repealing federal abortion protections ― has deep ties to extreme right-wing organizations that actively oppose IVF.”
“While in the White House, Trump and his administration praised, appointed and worked with some of the nation’s most extreme thought leaders who believe the IVF process is akin to murder. Trump hosted the Alabama Supreme Court chief justice who wrote the IVF ruling twice: once during his 2016 campaign and in 2018 at the White House. (This is the same chief justice who recently appeared on a QAnon conspiracist’s show.)”
“The former president also met multiple times while in office with Lila Rose, president and founder of the anti-abortion group Live Action, who recently said she was ‘proud’ of the Alabama Supreme Court for acknowledging that ‘a baby conceived via IVF should have the same legal protections as a baby conceived naturally.’”
“During his time as president, Trump appointed several extreme anti-IVF advocates to positions of power, including Tim Wildmon, who served on the Trump administration’s faith advisory council. Wildmon is the president of the American Family Association, an extreme anti-abortion organization that just last week opposed a Mississippi bill aimed at protecting IVF because it would open the door to ‘procedures like human cloning, designer babies, three-parent babies and even human-animal hybrids.’
“He also appointed a woman who spent much of her career attacking assisted reproductive technologies, such as IVF and surrogacy, to a lifetime federal judicial appointment. Sarah Pitlyk, who was deemed ‘not qualified’ by the American Bar Association, wrote in multiple rulings that states should treat embryos as humans. Trump put Pitlyk on a shortlist of Supreme Court justice picks. The job went to Amy Coney Barrett, who publicly supported an anti-abortion group that believes IVF should be criminalized.”
“Trump has not endorsed any IVF protections on the national or state level. And despite Republican claims of supporting IVF access, they blocked Democrats’ attempt to pass legislation to safeguard fertility treatments on the federal level.
“Abortion rights advocates have warned that the anti-choice movement would come for IVF and fertility treatments once Roe v. Wade fell. Currently, more than a dozen states are considering laws that would enshrine fetal personhood, threatening IVF and other fertility treatments.”
Senate Republicans blocked basic protections for IVF just weeks ago in the wake of the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision that threatened families’ access to IVF.
Associated Press: “Republicans block Senate bill to protect nationwide access to IVF treatments”
The Hill: “Senate Republicans blocked an effort Wednesday to pass legislation that would federally protect access to in vitro fertilization (IVF).”
125 House Republicans – including Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson – have supported the Life at Conception Act, which could rip away IVF access from families nationwide.
Daily Beast: “Republicans Struggle to Explain Away Their Hypocrisy on IVF”
Business Insider: “Most House Republicans have cosponsored a bill declaring that life begins from the moment of conception, a position under increased scrutiny after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are ‘unborn children.’
“This Congress, 125 House Republicans — including Speaker Mike Johnson — have cosponsored the ‘Life at Conception Act,’ which states that the term ‘human being’ includes ‘all stages of life, including the moment of fertilization, cloning, or other moment at which an individual member of the human species comes into being.’
“The bill does not include any exception for in vitro fertilization (IVF), a reproductive treatment that allows mothers to fertilize several eggs outside the womb in order to increase the chances of a viable pregnancy.”
NBC News: “But with the landmark Roe ruling protecting those rights gone, efforts by conservative lawmakers and judges to advance fetal personhood bills pose a real threat to some fertility treatments, including IVF, reproductive rights advocates say.”
Politico: “Dozens of congressional Republicans have signed onto so-called personhood legislation with no carve-out for embryos in clinics, which, if enacted, would upend how the procedure is practiced in the United States.”
Donald Trump made possible the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that threatened IVF treatment – and Trump is still bragging about his role in overturning Roe v. Wade while demanding credit for extreme abortion bans across the country.
CNN: “How the reversal of Roe v. Wade led to the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos are children”
New York Times: “[The Alabama ruling was] made possible by the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in its 2022 Dobbs decision, which was a result of Mr. Trump’s appointment of three justices.”
Trump: “For 54 years they were trying to get Roe v. Wade terminated, and I did it, and I’m proud to have done it. … Nobody else was going to get that done but me, and we did it, and we did something that was a miracle.”
Trump: “I was able to kill Roe v. Wade… Without me there would be no 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 15 weeks, or whatever is finally agreed to. Without me the pro Life movement would have just kept losing. Thank you President TRUMP!!!”
Rolling Stone: “Trump Claims Credit for All Abortion Bans”
Business Insider: “Trump boasts he’s ‘proud’ about his role in overturning Roe v. Wade, the issue that has become ballot-box poison for Republicans”
Rolling Stone: “Trump Says He’s ‘Proud’ to Have ‘Terminated’ Abortion Rights”
FWIW: “This week, we found more evidence that the Trump campaign has no interest in ‘moderating’ on the issue of abortion. On Monday, his team began running new Facebook video ads targeting voters in Iowa, referring to Trump as ‘THE MOST Pro-Life President in history.’”
Trump campaign radio ad: “Trump nominated conservative judges, leading to Roe v. Wade being overturned.”
The post REALITY CHECK: MAGA Republicans Continue to Oppose Any Protections for IVF appeared first on Democrats.