Brunswick Beacon, 03.14.24
After decades targeting women’s right to choose, Republicans overturned Roe v. Wade. Doctors warned it could eliminate invitro fertilization (IVF) and, perversely, make it harder to start families.
“For 50 years,” warned the American Society of Reproductive Rights’ Sean Tipton, “there’s been a constitutional right to privacy. That right is going away. States can pass laws banning or restricting reproductive medical procedures.” That includes IVF, in which multiple eggs are fertilized. Unused embryos are frozen in case the first implant is unsuccessful. The Mayo Clinic notes, “not all embryos survive the freezing and thawing process.” The loss of some embryos is a normal part of IVF.
In a decision relying on scripture(!), Alabama’s Supreme Court called that murder, ruling that life begins at conception: “All human beings bear the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing his glory.” Alabama providers responded by halting IVF.
IVF has delivered 8 million babies to American families that might otherwise be childless. Eighty-five% of Americans support IVF, including 83% of Evangelicals and 78% of self-identified “pro-life” voters.
Some Republican politicians claim to support IVF but have sponsored “life at conception” bills that confer rights on embryos at the expense of 8 million living, breathing babies.
Our congressman, David Rouzer, joined 124 Republicans in co-sponsoring H.R.431, the Life at Conception Act, which says human personhood begins at “the moment of fertilization…” It extends “equal protection for the right to life” to every frozen embryo, with no exception for IVF.
Rouzer’s bill does the same thing as the Alabama ruling: it bans IVF and abortion nationwide! Republican claims that they will protect IVF ring hollow. They had that chance and blew it. Mississippi Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith blocked Senate legislation, and no Republican has co-sponsored House legislation, that preserves Americans’ rights to IVF.
Don’t let Republicans shove their personal religious views down your throat and take away your private reproductive freedom.
Laura McGann
Leland