As Senate Democrats prepare to force a vote on protecting in vitro fertilization, one of the more common complaints from Republicans is that there’s no real need to legislate on the matter. It was just a few months ago when GOP leaders, including Donald Trump, expressed public support for IVF, so as far as Republicans are concerned, both sides are already on the same page.
If IVF is broadly popular and not in danger, the argument goes, then Democrats are engaging in a stunt for no reason.
If only it were that simple.
While it’s true that IVF enjoys broad public support — one recent poll found that a whopping 86% of Americans want the treatments to be legal — many on the right are pushing aggressively in the opposite direction. NBC News reported late yesterday:
A New York Times analysis added that SBC vote was a timely reminder that “ordinary evangelicals are increasingly open to seeing embryos as people.”
Members of the nation’s most politically powerful Protestant denomination aren’t alone. It was, after all, just four months ago when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are actual people, leading several local medical facilities to suspended their in vitro fertilization treatments.
Soon after, a great many prominent opponents of reproductive rights pressured GOP officials not to support any new IVF protections at the federal level.
In April, Politico reported that anti-abortion advocates were “laying the groundwork for a yearslong fight to curb in vitro fertilization.”
The article added that these activists on the right “want to re-run” the strategy that successfully overturned Roe v. Wade.
In other words, Republicans arguing that new IVF protections aren’t necessary are either peddling false claims or are woefully uninformed.
The Democratic majority in the Senate is scheduled to bring the Right to IVF Act to the floor this afternoon. If approved — a big “if,” to be sure — it would prohibiting states from imposing restrictions on the treatments, while also making IVF more affordable. Watch this space.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
EMEA Tribune is not involved in this news article, it is taken from our partners and or from the News Agencies. Copyright and Credit go to the News Agencies, email news@emeatribune.com Follow our WhatsApp verified Channel
