“Under my leadership, the Republican Party will always support building stronger, more prosperous, healthier American families. We want to make it easier for moms and dads to have babies, not harder! This includes supporting the availability of fertility treatments like IVF in every state in the United States,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Like the majority of Americans, including the majority of Republicans, conservatives, Christians and pro-life Americans, I strongly support IVF being available to couples trying to conceive a precious child.”
A court ruling in Alabama ruled that frozen embryos should be considered children and that people could be held liable for their destruction. In his social media post, Trump called on the Alabama state legislature to “act quickly to find an immediate solution to protect the availability of IVF in Alabama.”
Most of the expressions of support for IVF came from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the national group that elects Republicans to the Senate, citing its popularity in this year's polls for supporting its candidates in vitro fertilization and rejecting government regulations.
The shift underscores the dangerous line GOP candidates are treading when debating reproductive rights, nearly two years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the constitutional right to an abortion no longer exists.
Since the high court's ruling in 2022, Republicans across the board have struggled to find a winning strategy for protecting reproductive rights — especially through abortion. Last November, abortion rights played a role in Republican losses across the country, and voters rejected every opportunity to restrict abortion care in several polls, including in red states. Some Republicans in Congress, meanwhile, have continued to push for a federal abortion ban.
Initially, last Friday's ruling from Alabama was met with mostly silence from Republican office and candidates. But more and more GOP politicians at all levels have sought to distance themselves from it and embrace IVF procedures, which have been used in increasing numbers by families of all political affiliations in America over the past decade.
For years much of the Republican Party has adopted the argument that life begins at conception as a cornerstone of their opposition to abortion. But the decision in Alabama injected a sense of urgency into the debate.
The message from the NRSC, contained in a memo obtained by The Washington Post, said the Alabama ruling coincided with a growing number of GOP Senate candidates voicing support for threatened IVF procedures.
“As we respond to the Alabama Supreme Court ruling, it's essential that our candidates stay connected to the public's overwhelming support for IVF and fertility treatments,” NRSC Executive Director Jason Dillman 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 gains.”[t]Here are zero Republican Senate candidates who support efforts to limit access to fertility treatments.
“NRSC encourages Republican Senate candidates to clearly and succinctly reject government efforts to regulate IVF,” he wrote.
The NRSC memo cites polls conducted by former Trump White House adviser Kellyanne Conway's firm that say access to IVF is more popular.
On Friday, the Republican Senate candidates Bernie Moreno And Matt Dolan In Ohio, Tim Sheehy in Montana, Dave McCormick in Pennsylvania And Kari Lake in Arizona One of those who took to social media to support IVF.
Until Friday, former President Donald Trump remained silent on the Alabama ruling. His remaining rival for the GOP presidential nomination, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, has sent mixed signals. Haley initially said she personally agreed that “fetuses, I have children,” but later insisted that families and doctors should be responsible for their fertility decisions.
The NRSC memo does not explicitly say how candidates should discuss personality and substance, an issue at the heart of the Alabama case.
“Make clear your support for IVF and fertility-related services as a blessing to those who wish to have children,” the NRSC memo said. “Highlight the importance of these treatments in making the conception dreams of countless families come true.”
Applicants must “publicly oppose any attempt to limit access to IVF and other fertility treatments, framing such opposition as a defense of family values and individual freedom.”