The Alabama court ruling granting rights to “extrauterine children” (aka embryos) could not have come at a better time for Republicans searching for ways to distance themselves from the increasingly toxic post-Dobbs political fallout. As abortion access has proven to be a winning issue at the ballot box, many of those who abetted the forced-birth movement’s decadeslong project to overturn Roe are scrambling to assure voters that their desire to limit women’s bodily autonomy wasn’t supposed to go this far.
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., for example, has proposed a nonbinding House resolution that “calls on elected officials at all levels of government to pass legislation to protect access to fertility care proactively.” I support Mace’s resolution myself because (as is evident to many, although perhaps not to Mace) contraception and abortion are themselves “fertility care.”
The Republican commitment to preserving even narrowly defined ‘fertility care’ defies polling averages.
The Republican commitment to preserving even narrowly defined “fertility care” defies polling averages. This week, Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth (who conceived her children via IVF) brought forward legislation that would create a federal right to “assisted reproductive technology” — and Mississippi GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith blocked it. She claimed to “support the ability for mothers and fathers to have total access to IVF and bringing new life into the world.” But, she added, “I also believe human life should be protected.”
Hyde-Smith’s cognitive dissonance is shared by numerous senators, including Texas’ Ted Cruz, Alabama’s Katie Britt and fellow Mississippian Roger Marshall, who similarly claimed their anti-abortion stand was congruent with their support of IVF.
“Defending life and ensuring continued access to IVF services for loving parents are not mutually exclusive,” said Britt. Cruz called IVF “entirely life-affirming.” And Marshall…
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