Republicans are working on a mass rebranding following a devastating ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court that effectively stalled in vitro fertilization across the state. The instant backlash to the decision has led to droves of GOP lawmakers to issue statements in which they claim to be champions of the procedure—despite the fact that many of them had supported a bill to ban the practice just three years ago.
On Friday, the Senate Republican campaign arm issued a memo urging its political candidates to “clearly and concisely reject efforts by the government to restrict IVF.” The National Republican Senatorial Committee derided the all-conservative court’s decision in a deep red state as “fodder for Democrats hoping to manipulate the abortion issue for electoral gain,” according to a copy of the memo obtained by Axios.
Since then, several lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson and Representatives Nancy Mace and Byron Donalds, have come out in support of the medical procedure, claiming that they would do anything in their power to thwart restrictions to the practice.
I will stop any and all efforts to ban IVF.
— Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) February 24, 2024
“I totally support the procedure,” Donalds said on NBC News’s Meet the Press
on Sunday. “We really want the Alabama legislature to make sure that that procedure is protected for families who do struggle with having children, that helps them actually create great families, which is what our country desperately needs.”
But that doesn’t quite square away with their recent voting records. In 2021, those legislators and 163 other House Republicans co-sponsored the Life at Conception Act, which hoped to recognize fertilized eggs as children at the federal level in an attempt to ban abortions nationwide.
On Friday, Johnson issued a statement supporting IVF, correctly arguing that it “has been a blessing for many moms and dads who have struggled with fertility.” That is, however, not how he felt just one year ago. In 2023, Johnson affirmed his legislative stance against the medical procedure, supporting another iteration of the Life at Conception Act, which garnered 124 Republican co-sponsors.
