David Schweikert, Juan Ciscomani, and Kari Lake are All Anti-IVF
Vulnerable House members David Schweikert and Juan Ciscomani are rightfully getting called out for their craven attempts to cover up their dangerous anti-IVF records.
Schweikert’s hypocrisy could not be more clear. He claims to support IVF despite co-sponsoring legislation that directly jeopardizes access to the procedure.
Their shameless attempt to deceive voters puts them in company with MAGA extremist Kari Lake. It’s not surprising that Schweikert and Ciscomani would attempt to mask their extreme anti-women’s health care views in a year when reproductive rights could be on the ballot statewide.
DCCC Spokesperson Lauryn Fanguen:
“David Schweikert and Juan Ciscomani are bending over backwards to convince voters that they support IVF – but not supporting the bill that actually protects IVF. Like Kari Lake, Schweikert and Ciscomani can’t run from their record and Arizona voters will reject their anti-women extremism this November.”
The future of fertility care like IVF in the United States remains uncertain after Senate Republicans last month blocked legislation that would protect access to IVF and prevent it from being subjected to wrongful death lawsuits—a protection that was taken away when Roe v Wade was overturned in 2022.
Similarly, Republicans who control the US House have refused to vote on the Access to Family Building Act, which would prevent fertility care from being subject to wrongful death laws nationwide.
While Arizona’s congressional delegation has been vocally in favor of protecting IVF, their voting record reveals a partisan split. While Democrats have introduced and voted to pass bills that specifically protect fertility care, Republicans have attempted to pass multiple bills that would cause the scenario that unfolded in Alabama to take place in Arizona and all across the country.
In Arizona, where laws surrounding reproductive care are still in flux, reproductive rights advocates are working to enshrine abortion and conception protections into the state’s constitution. While a similar solution has worked in states like Michigan and Ohio, Congress could resolve the issue altogether should Democrats take control of the House in November.
[Kari] Lake supported the total [abortion] ban when she ran for governor, but has recently come out in favor of the state’s current 15-week ban. Lake’s overarching ideology, however, appears to be that states have the right to enact total bans, and she would presumably support one in Arizona, should it become law.
[David] Schweikert stated his support for IVF and said he would “oppose any effort to restrict it.” He also supports a nationwide abortion ban and laws that would define life as starting at conception, which would open fertilization clinics up to wrongful death lawsuits.
Schweikert cosponsored the Life at Conception Act in 2021, but did not sponsor the same bill in 2023. He also has not cosponsored the Access to Family Building Act.
Schweikert did sign on in support of a nonbinding resolution that doesn’t protect IVF legally, but calls on lawmakers like himself to oppose legislation that would restrict access to fertility treatments, like the Life at Conception Act.
[Juan] Ciscomani signed a nonbinding resolution that doesn’t protect IVF legally, but calls on lawmakers like himself to oppose legislation that would restrict access to fertility treatments.
Ciscomani has not cosponsored the Access to Family Building Act.
###
Please make sure that the form field below is filled out correctly before submitting.
