In response to new reporting on extreme anti-choice groups’ push to ban IVF, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement: 

“Extreme anti-choice groups are saying the quiet part out loud: MAGA Republicans and their anti-choice backers are hellbent on ripping away women’s reproductive rights, and if given the chance, they’ll threaten access to IVF for every American family. Even as voters continue to reject Republicans’ extreme and out-of-touch agenda, Trump’s MAGA allies are still pushing to take away Americans’ freedoms, including access to IVF treatments – and the GOP will pay the price for their toxic, anti-choice record at the ballot box this November.”

NEW: Extreme MAGA anti-abortion groups are pushing Republicans to restrict IVF access – and their ultimate goal is completely banning IVF nationwide.

Politico: “Anti-abortion advocates condemn GOP as insufficiently ‘pro-life’ on IVF”

“As many politicians raced in recent weeks to get to the right side of public opinion on IVF, some of the country’s biggest and most influential anti-abortion groups are pushing back.”

“Several have attacked state and federal lawmakers — who introduced legislation to protect IVF after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled last month that frozen embryos are children — for giving doctors a ‘license to kill’ and said legislators’ efforts would result in ‘thousands of dead human beings.’”

“Other groups are going further, running ads against longstanding GOP allies that use… graphic imagery.”

“In Alabama, the anti-abortion movement resoundingly condemned a bill shielding IVF providers from criminal and civil charges, and pressured GOP Gov. Kay Ivey to veto it.”

“In Congress, anti-abortion groups are vowing to penalize GOP members if they support pro-IVF bills they believe go too far.”

“This week, leaders of two of the country’s biggest groups — Susan B. Anthony List and March for Life — will attend House Republicans’ annual policy retreat. … They want lawmakers to seize the moment created by the Alabama decision to impose restrictions on the way IVF is commonly practiced in the U.S.”

“Some Republicans lawmakers are heeding the anti-abortion movement’s concerns. In Iowa, House GOP lawmakers voted last week to advance legislation that would give embryos and fetuses personhood rights, despite concerns from Democrats and others that the legislation would hamper IVF access. And GOP lawmakers in Tennessee recently rejected legislation proposed by their Democratic colleagues to protect IVF access, saying that such legislation was unnecessary.”

“Even the Alabama Legislature watered down its original proposal, which would have carved out embryos created during the IVF process but not implanted into the uterus from the definition of ‘human life.’”

“As the debate rages at the state and national levels, Perkins and other anti-abortion leaders say they’re hopeful, despite recent setbacks, that the conversation ignited by the Alabama ruling will eventually lead to more restrictions on IVF.”

The Atlantic: “The People Rooting for the End of IVF”

“Those in the wider anti-abortion movement who oppose IVF are feeling hopeful. Whatever the outcome in Alabama, the situation has yanked the issue ‘into the public consciousness’ nationwide, Aaron Kheriaty, a fellow at the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center, told me. … In his ideal world, the anti-abortion movement would make ending IVF its new goal—the next frontier in a post-Roe society. … He and his allies see the Alabama ruling as a chance to start a national conversation about the morality of IVF—even if, at first, Americans don’t want to listen.”

Senate Republicans recently blocked basic protections for IVF, while 125 House Republicans – including Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson – have supported the Life at Conception Act, which could rip away IVF access from families nationwide.

Daily Beast: “Republicans Struggle to Explain Away Their Hypocrisy on IVF”

Associated Press: “Republicans block Senate bill to protect nationwide access to IVF treatments”

Business Insider: “Most House Republicans have cosponsored a bill declaring that life begins from the moment of conception, a position under increased scrutiny after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are ‘unborn children.’

“This Congress, 125 House Republicans — including Speaker Mike Johnson — have cosponsored the ‘Life at Conception Act,’ which states that the term ‘human being’ includes ‘all stages of life, including the moment of fertilization, cloning, or other moment at which an individual member of the human species comes into being.’

“The bill does not include any exception for in vitro fertilization (IVF), a reproductive treatment that allows mothers to fertilize several eggs outside the womb in order to increase the chances of a viable pregnancy.”

NBC News: “But with the landmark Roe ruling protecting those rights gone, efforts by conservative lawmakers and judges to advance fetal personhood bills pose a real threat to some fertility treatments, including IVF, reproductive rights advocates say.”

Politico: “Dozens of congressional Republicans have signed onto so-called personhood legislation with no carve-out for embryos in clinics, which, if enacted, would upend how the procedure is practiced in the United States.”

REMINDER: Donald Trump made possible the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that threatens IVF treatment – and Trump is still bragging about his role in overturning Roe v. Wade while demanding credit for extreme abortion bans across the country.

CNN: “How the reversal of Roe v. Wade led to the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos are children”

New York Times: “[The Alabama ruling was] made possible by the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in its 2022 Dobbs decision, which was a result of Mr. Trump’s appointment of three justices.”

Trump: “For 54 years they were trying to get Roe v. Wade terminated, and I did it, and I’m proud to have done it. … Nobody else was going to get that done but me, and we did it, and we did something that was a miracle.”

Trump: “I was able to kill Roe v. Wade… Without me there would be no 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 15 weeks, or whatever is finally agreed to. Without me the pro Life movement would have just kept losing. Thank you President TRUMP!!!”

Rolling Stone: “Trump Claims Credit for All Abortion Bans”

Business Insider: “Trump boasts he’s ‘proud’ about his role in overturning Roe v. Wade, the issue that has become ballot-box poison for Republicans”

Rolling Stone: “Trump Says He’s ‘Proud’ to Have ‘Terminated’ Abortion Rights”

FWIW: “This week, we found more evidence that the Trump campaign has no interest in ‘moderating’ on the issue of abortion. On Monday, his team began running new Facebook video ads targeting voters in Iowa, referring to Trump as ‘THE MOST Pro-Life President in history.’”

Trump campaign radio ad: “Trump nominated conservative judges, leading to Roe v. Wade being overturned.”

Trump also supports a national abortion ban and has an extreme anti-abortion record. 

Rolling Stone: “Trump Wants to Ban Abortion Nationwide: Report”

Rolling Stone: “Trump Floats National Abortion Ban After Claiming He’s ‘On the Side of Women’”

Trump: “There of course remains a vital role for the federal government in protecting unborn life. And it’s very important.” 

Trump on if he would sign a six-week national abortion ban: “I’m looking at all options.”

Trump: “We’ll pick something that’s going to be very, very good for pro-life… I’m going to be in there pushing.”

Trump: “There has to be some form of punishment [for women who have abortions].”

The Hill: “The Trump administration formally backed a House bill Monday that would ban abortions after 20 weeks… It would make it a crime to perform or attempt an abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, with the possibility of a fine, up to five years in prison or both.”