The national group tasked with electing Republicans to the Senate on Friday urged its candidates on the ballot this year to support in vitro fertilization and reject government restrictions — guidance that came a week after an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos should be considered children and that people can be held liable for destroying them.
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The messaging from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, contained in a memo obtained by The Washington Post, was accompanied by announcements from a rapidly growing number of GOP Senate candidates voicing support for IVF procedures, which the Alabama ruling threatens.
The events underscored the precarious line GOP candidates are walking when it comes to discussing reproductive rights following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling nearly two years ago that declared a constitutional right to an abortion no longer exists.
Initially, last Friday’s ruling from Alabama was largely met with silence from Republican officeholders and candidates. But more GOP politicians at all levels have since sought to distance themselves from it and embrace IVF procedures, which have been utilized in soaring numbers by families of all political affiliations in the United States over the past decade.
Democrats seek to leverage Alabama embryo ruling in an election year
“When responding to the Alabama Supreme Court ruling, it is imperative that our candidates align with the public’s overwhelming support for IVF and fertility treatments,” NRSC Executive Director Jason Thielman wrote in a memo to “Senate Candidates” dated Friday.
Thielman described the Alabama ruling as “fodder for Democrats hoping to manipulate the abortion issue for electoral gain” and said that “[t]here are zero Republican Senate candidates who support efforts to restrict access to fertility treatments.”
“NRSC encourages Republican Senate candidates to clearly and concisely reject efforts by the government to restrict IVF,” he wrote.
The NRSC memo cited polling that appears to have been conducted by the firm of former Trump White House adviser Kellyanne Conway that claimed that access to IVF is overwhelmingly popular.
On Friday, Republican Senate candidates Bernie Moreno in Ohio, Tim Sheehy in Montana, Dave McCormick in Pennsylvania and Kari Lake in Arizona were among those who posted messages on social media that said they support IVF.
Cut through the 2024 election noise. Get The Campaign Moment newsletter.
The messaging from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, contained in a memo obtained by The Washington Post, was accompanied by announcements from a rapidly growing number of GOP Senate candidates voicing support for IVF procedures, which the Alabama ruling threatens.
The events underscored the precarious line GOP candidates are walking when it comes to discussing reproductive rights following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling nearly two years ago that declared a constitutional right to an abortion no longer exists.
Initially, last Friday’s ruling from Alabama was largely met with silence from Republican officeholders and candidates. But more GOP politicians at all levels have since sought to distance themselves from it and embrace IVF procedures, which have been utilized in soaring numbers by families of all political affiliations in the United States over the past decade.
Democrats seek to leverage Alabama embryo ruling in an election year
“When responding to the Alabama Supreme Court ruling, it is imperative that our candidates align with the public’s overwhelming support for IVF and fertility treatments,” NRSC Executive Director Jason Thielman wrote in a memo to “Senate Candidates” dated Friday.
Thielman described the Alabama ruling as “fodder for Democrats hoping to manipulate the abortion issue for electoral gain” and said that “[t]here are zero Republican Senate candidates who support efforts to restrict access to fertility treatments.”
“NRSC encourages Republican Senate candidates to clearly and concisely reject efforts by the government to restrict IVF,” he wrote.
The NRSC memo cited polling that appears to have been conducted by the firm of former Trump White House adviser Kellyanne Conway that claimed that access to IVF is overwhelmingly popular.
On Friday, Republican Senate candidates Bernie Moreno in Ohio, Tim Sheehy in Montana, Dave McCormick in Pennsylvania and Kari Lake in Arizona were among those who posted messages on social media that said they support IVF.
