More than a week after the Alabama Supreme Court declared that frozen embryos created for in vitro fertilization were human beings with legal rights, upending fertility care in the state, the ruling is resonating across the country and puts the Republicans on the defensive.
On CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, a Republican who supports former President Donald J. Trump, was asked about the impact of the ruling overturning Roe v. Wade was made possible by the Supreme Court in its 2022 Dobbs decision, which was a result of Mr. Trump’s appointment of three justices.
Mr. Abbott sought to portray IVF, which has been available for more than 40 years, as a novel issue for lawmakers to address.
“Because it’s a relatively new issue, we just have to find ways to navigate the law and the facts, situations that are very complicated,” he said.
IVF typically creates multiple embryos, but only one is implanted at a time to maximize the chances of a healthy pregnancy. This means the remaining embryos are frozen and some are never used. Mr Abbott admitted he didn’t know the details, saying: “I don’t know the math – is the number of embryos frozen one, 10, 100, 1,000?” Things like that are important.” (A widely cited study from the 2011 found that the ideal number of eggs to retrieve was 15, but the numbers vary widely depending on age and other factors.)
Mr Abbott also raised questions such as what happens if someone who has frozen embryos dies or gets divorced, which have long been the subject of debate among IVF patients, doctors and lawyers.
“I’m not sure everyone has really thought about what all the potential problems are, and so no one really knows the possible answers,” he said when CNN anchor Dana Bash asked whether Texas families are pursuing in vitro fertilization . I have to worry.”
After the Alabama ruling rocked the presidential and congressional campaigns last week, Mr. Trump said Friday that he supports IVF and that Alabama lawmakers should take action to protect it. And the executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the campaign arm of Senate Republicans, said the party’s candidates should “join the public’s overwhelming support for IVF.”
Asked on CNN whether such comments “undermine” Democrats’ criticism of Republicans, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, a Democrat who is supporting President Biden’s re-election, replied: “No, that’s not the case.”
“We always knew that with Donald Trump’s appointments to the Supreme Court of the United States, IVF, a woman’s ability to make her own decisions about her body and all that comes with it, was at risk.” ” She said. “And so this ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court is a natural continuation of that.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, whose political organization announced an advertising campaign Sunday against a bill in Tennessee that would make it a felony for an adult to assist a minor in having an abortion without parental consent, said this on the show “Meet the Press” from NBC News Mr. Trump “was still trying to figure out his exact position because he’s out there celebrating the fact that he created these conditions in the first place.”
That was a reference to Trump’s boasts that by appointing Justices Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, he had done what Republican presidents before him had not done: created a conservative supermajority that Roe overthrew v. Calf. Without this, the language of the Alabama Constitution cited by the state court would not have been enforceable.
Many Republicans have struggled to oppose the outcome of the Alabama ruling while supporting the principle on which it is based. Nikki Haley did so on Wednesday, saying it is important to allow doctors and patients to freely navigate the IVF process, but also said embryos are people; She later said that just because she believes in it doesn’t mean everyone has to do it.
That theme continued on Sunday morning talk shows, where Rep. Byron Donalds, Republican of Florida, walked back earlier comments in which he told a reporter that he agreed that embryos are children. Mr. Donalds told NBC on Sunday that he had only “half-heard your question, ‘but do I support the IVF procedure?’ would be open-minded.
On ABC News’ “This Week,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat who had her children through IVF and has introduced a bill to protect it, said that “not a single Republican” senator has contacted her about signing her bill.
“The Republicans will say whatever they have to say to hide on this issue, but they have made themselves clear,” Ms. Duckworth said. “And Donald Trump was the one who led this effort to eliminate women’s reproductive rights and reproductive choices.”
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2024-02-25 18:41:09
www.nytimes.com
