In February, the Alabama Supreme Court made a landmark decision: Any embryo created through in vitro fertilization (IVF) is considered a human being – an extension of the pro-life arguments conservatives have made for decades. Since that ruling, IVF clinics across the state have begun closing their doors, and some are even shipping embryos to other states for fear of legal repercussions.
Republican politicians like Senator Katie Britt are currently trying to contain the political fallout from the controversial decision. In July, Britt appeared on ABC News to express her and other Republicans’ support for access to IVF. She said, “IVF is pro-life. It’s pro-woman, it’s pro-family. That’s what the Republican Party stands for.”
Britt even attacked Democrats for allegedly misinterpreting the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision and misrepresenting it to the American people. She accused Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) of “making it look like Republicans don’t support IVF, which couldn’t be further from the truth. The truth is that IVF is available and accessible in all 50 states in this country.”
While the intent behind the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling was not to restrict access to IVF treatment, there is no denying that IVF treatment is far less accessible to the people of Alabama today than it was prior to the ruling.
As Democrats now step up their efforts to put Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz in the White House in November, they are using Alabama and the IVF ruling as political tools to denigrate the Republican Party and mobilize its supporters.
On Tuesday, former first lady Michelle Obama spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and included IVF as a critical issue in her speech. Obama herself became a mother through IVF and warned that a Republican victory in November could jeopardize future access to the treatment.
“Cutting our health care, taking away our freedom to control our bodies, the freedom to become mothers through artificial insemination like I did – these things will not improve the health of our women, mothers and daughters,” Obama said.
Her comments were similar to those of Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth, who spoke to the convention earlier that day and specifically pointed to the Alabama Supreme Court ruling as a sign of future Republican policy: “If they win, Republicans will not stop at banning abortion. Next they will move on to IVF. They will prosecute doctors. They will pillory and spy on women.”
Like Britt and her Republican Senate colleagues, former President Donald Trump says he supports access to IVF and that if re-elected, he will “continue to strongly advocate for the availability of IVF.” The Associated Press also reported that Trump urged Alabama lawmakers to preserve access to IVF as Democrats continue to use the February ruling as an argument in their election strategy.
