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NBC: “Steel was voicing support for IVF even as she co-sponsored the bill, which could threaten the use of IVF for pregnancy…”
“Her office didn’t respond to queries about how she reconciles those stances.”
After weeks of condemnation for her hypocrisy on IVF, Michelle Steel is in damage control mode and attempting to scrub her name from the Life at Conception Act — legislation Steel has twice co-sponsored that would completely ban abortion with no exceptions for rape, incest, life of the woman, and effectively ban IVF services nationwide.
Steel’s desperate attempt to backtrack on her support for this anti-choice and anti-IVF legislation comes as House Republicans are grappling with the implications of the disastrous Alabama Supreme Court ruling.
Unfortunately for Steel and her anti-reproductive rights caucus, the posturing rings hollow – especially after Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson “indicated that he doesn’t see a role for Congress to protect IVF.”
Don’t forget that Steel signed onto the federal abortion ban with no exceptions — even in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the woman is at stake — not once, but twice.
DCCC Spokesperson Dan Gottlieb:
“Michelle Steel has just admitted it plain as day: she proudly championed the Life at Conception Act, knowing it did not include exceptions for rape, incest, or life of the mother – and that it would effectively ban access to IVF across the country. But now that Orange County residents are expressing disgust with her record, Steel is backpedaling as fast as she can. Michelle Steel can’t outrun the reproductive rights-restricting mess she just helped create – and she won’t be able to wash her hands of this damning voting record come November.”
See what Californians are reading about their anti-choice congresswoman:
NBC News: GOP Rep. Michelle Steel rescinds her co-sponsorship of the Life at Conception Act after winning her primary
Sahil Kapur and Rebecca Kaplan | March 7, 2024
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Rep. Michelle Steel, a two-term Republican congresswoman from a competitive Orange County-area district, announced Thursday she’s withdrawing her co-sponsorship of the Life at Conception Act, saying she favors in vitro fertilization.
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The reversal comes two days after Steel won her primary to advance to the general election this fall, securing enough support from Republicans to move forward. Also on Tuesday, NBC News reported that Steel was voicing support for IVF even as she co-sponsored the bill, which could threaten the use of IVF for pregnancy, a process in which unused embryos can be discarded. At the time, her office didn’t respond to queries about how she reconciles those stances.
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The attempts at clarifying her position sparked further confusion after Steel published an opinion piece in the Orange County Register saying she’s “an ardent supporter of IVF” while adding: “I believe life begins at conception.”
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Her office didn’t respond when asked if Steel believes that destroying embryos amounts to ending a life.
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Steel’s about-face represents a broader dilemma for Republicans over IVF in the wake of an Alabama ruling against reproductive rights that threatened the procedure and elevated it into the national consciousness.
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The congresswoman has rolled out a nonbinding resolution expressing support for the use of IVF to achieve pregnancy but has not signed on to legislation that would assure legal protections for it.
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House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who is still cosponsoring the Life At Conception Act, was asked Thursday on CBS whether he believes destroying or disposing of embryos is murder.
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“It’s something that we’ve got to grapple with,” he said. “It’s a brave new world. IVF suddenly been invented, I think, in the early 70s. But there’s an estimated 8 million Americans who had been been born because of that great technology. So we support the sanctity of life of course, and we support IVF and the full access to it.”
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Johnson indicated that he doesn’t see a role for Congress to protect IVF when pressed on whether discarding an embryo is the same as disposing of a child.
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“I think policymakers have to determine how to handle that. We need to look at the ethics surrounding that issue, but it’s an important one,” he said. “But we do believe in the sanctity of life and if you do believe that life begins at conception, it’s a really important question to wrestle with. It’s not one Congress has dealt with and it won’t be. I think it’s a state’s issue and states will have be handling that.”
The New Republic: Bullying Republicans on IVF Hypocrisy Works. Look at Michelle Steel.
Tori Otten | March 7, 2024
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California Representative Michelle Steel revealed Thursday that she has removed herself as a co-sponsor of the Life at Conception Act, which would have established that life begins at conception—and put medical workers at risk of lawsuits if anything happened to an embryo.
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The Life at Conception Act was introduced first in 2021 with 166 co-sponsors (all Republicans) and then again in 2023 with 124 (again all Republicans). Many opponents of the bill, which has not advanced since, have warned that, if it became law, the legislation would heavily restrict access to in vitro fertilization. The bill and its sponsors have come under increased scrutiny in light of the Alabama Supreme Court ruling establishing that embryos can be classified as human children.
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Since the ruling, which severely restricted IVF in the state, Republicans have rushed to portray themselves as ardent defenders of the medical procedure, particularly those who represent districts that voted for Joe Biden in 2020. Steel, who is up for reelection in November, is one of those vulnerable Republicans.
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Steel was quick to post on social media about how much she supports IVF access after the Alabama ruling, and was immediately called out for declining to acknowledge that she was still listed as a co-sponsor of the Life at Conception Act at the time. She did not specify in her op-ed when she removed herself as a co-sponsor.
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