Republicans who expressed support for in vitro fertilization in the wake of the controversial Alabama Supreme Court ruling are coming under scrutiny for also backing legislation that declares human life begins at conception, without an exception for IVF — two positions that appear to be at odds with one another, in the latest example of Republicans struggling to thread the needle on reproductive rights issues.
The Life at Conception Act – which was introduced in January 2023 by GOP Rep. Alex Mooney of West Virginia and has 125 total Republican sponsors in the House, including House Speaker Mike Johnson – defines the term “human being” to include “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 a carveout for IVF, though it does state that nothing in the bill should “be construed to authorize the prosecution of any woman for the death of her unborn child.”
However, a Senate version of the bill — which was last introduced back in 2021 — makes an explicit exception for IVF.
That measure, sponsored by GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, says, “Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require the prosecution of any woman for the death of her unborn child, a prohibition on in vitro fertilization, or a prohibition on use of birth control or another means of preventing fertilization.”
After the Alabama Supreme Court decided frozen embryos used in IVF are children and those who destroy them can be held liable for wrongful death, a number of Republicans raced to distance themselves from the ruling and made crystal clear they support fertility treatments.
But Democrats say that is incongruous with the House GOP legislation defining life as…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply