As Alabama grapples with the fallout of a state Supreme Court decision that has widely halted access to in vitro fertilization, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday voiced support for IVF – though he stopped short of calling for a law to protect access in Texas.
The Alabama Supreme Court recently ruled that frozen embryos are considered human beings and people who discard of embryos can be held liable for wrongful death, prompting fertility clinics throughout the state to begin halting IVF services and forcing families to make difficult decisions about their fertility care.
Abbott said he wants to ensure some people will have access to IVF, invoking former President Donald Trump’s stance on the issue.
“(Former) President Trump put out a statement on this that I think a lot of people agree with, and that is a goal that we all kind of want to achieve. And that is we want to make it easier for people to be able to have babies, not … make it harder,” Abbott told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union” Sunday.
“And the IVF process is a way of giving life to even more babies. And so, what I think the goal is to make sure that we can find a pathway to ensure that parents who otherwise may not have the opportunity to have a child will be able to have access to the IVF process and become parents and give life to babies,” he said.
Trump has said he supports the availability of IVF and called on the Alabama legislature to “act quickly to find an immediate solution to preserve the availability of IVF in Alabama,” in a Truth Social post Friday.
The turmoil caused by the Alabama Supreme Court decision has extended beyond the state’s borders, with some families fleeing to other states, including Texas, where access to IVF services remains in place.
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