LANSING — Mike Rogers can’t erase his extensive anti-abortion record. 

Rogers continues to face scrutiny for being in a “sticky wicket” as he “scrambles” over his long anti-choice record. Reporters have highlighted how Rogers’ record “co-sponsoring” anti-IVF legislation makes it “even worse” for him. 

Here’s where Mike Rogers stands on restricting abortion access:

  • Rogers refuses to commit to supporting legislation to protect IVF at the federal level. 
  • Cindy Hyde-Smith, who blocked the Senate bill to protect IVF access, donated $5,000 to Rogers’ campaign.

See for yourself: 

Off the Record: Mike Rogers and Peter Meijer’s extensive anti-IVF records

The Gander: Mike Rogers tries to distance Senate campaign from past attempts to ban IVF 

  • Beyond IVF, Rogers has also made clear that he opposes abortion rights in Michigan—including voicing support for a near-total abortion ban and the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Rogers also told the Daily Mining Gazette that he wants to ban all federal funding for abortion care. 
  • And had he lived in Michigan instead of Florida in 2022, Rogers has also told reporters that he would’ve voted against Proposal 3 to cement the right to reproductive freedom—including abortion care—into the state Constitution, which passed with about 56% of the vote. 

The Gander: Mike Rogers tries to distance Senate campaign from his anti-abortion record 

  • [Rogers is] hoping Michiganders forget about his 14 years in Congress, and the decades that Rogers spent railing against reproductive rights and lobbying for a nationwide abortion ban. 
  • Rogers has long made clear that he opposes reproductive freedom in Michigan—including voicing support for a near-total abortion ban in response to an MLive candidate survey in 2010, where he clearly stated “abortions should be legal only to prevent the death of the mother.”
  • More recently, after Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to abortion care was overturned last year, Rogers reportedly told the Daily Mining Gazette that he supported the decision.
  • His congressional record is also littered with votes for anti-abortion bills. 
  • In 2012, Rogers voted for a bill that would’ve banned most abortions (without exceptions for rape or incest) in Washington, D.C. And about one year later, he co-sponsored legislation with US Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) that sought to ban and criminalize abortions across the country.
  • … Rogers later voted in support of another anti-abortion bill in 2013 that aimed to ban abortions after 20 weeks, with limited exceptions. 
  • During his time in Congress, Rogers also voted for other anti-abortion bills—including legislation to force patients to receive a misinformation-filled “Unborn Child Pain Awareness Brochure” before getting an abortion.

Business Insider: GOP politicians are saying they’ve always cared about IVF. Bills they’ve supported indicate otherwise

  • A spokesperson for Rogers… did not answer follow-up questions about whether the Senate candidate would support efforts to protect IVF should he be elected.

Michigan Advance: ‘Republicans have put the rights of a fertilized egg over the rights of the woman’ 

  • The U.S. Senate debate crystallized how statements by GOP legislators about IVF and what they are willing to do to keep it available are often in conflict.
  • But because Rogers is one of only three who has already served in Congress, he has a voting record that can be compared to his statement.
  • And that is exactly what many X users did, prompting a Community Note on the post.
  • “In his 14 years in Congress Mike Rogers sponsored 4 bills that would have the same effect as the Alabama Supreme Court’s IVF ruling,” stated the note, which then linked to each of those four bills from 2005, 2007, 2009, and 2013, each of which would provide legal personhood from the moment of conception.

NBC: “Former Rep. Mike Rogers, who is running for Senate in Michigan and co-sponsored a series of measures attempting to define human life as beginning at the moment of fertilization.”

Detroit News: “[Rogers] did not commit to supporting legislation to protect [IVF] at the federal level… Asked about how the fetal personhood bills he sponsored in Congress squared with his support for IVF, Rogers refused to discuss the legislation.”

Off the Record: Mike Rogers refusing to answer for his past IVF votes and “punt[ing]” questions

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