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New Republic: “GOP Congresswoman Shows Mind-Blowing Hypocrisy on Alabama IVF Ruling”
As families in Alabama are coping with the painful blow to reproductive care from the state Supreme Court’s latest ruling, Republican Michelle Steel is trying – and failing – to cover up her own extreme record.
Just six weeks ago, Steel co-sponsored legislation that would jeopardize access to IVF nationwide, but to cover her tracks, Steel released a statement Friday saying she supports IVF – only to get fact-checked about her voting record.
The Steel-backed Life at Conception Act would impose similar restrictions on IVF and fertility treatments as the Alabama Supreme Court ruling – and ban abortion nationwide without exceptions in cases of rape or incest, despite Steel continuing to claim she supports exceptions.
DCCC Spokesperson Dan Gottlieb:
“While it’s no surprise that Michelle Steel is doubling down on her lies and hypocrisy around banning access to reproductive care, it’s shocking that she thinks Californians will believe her. If Steel’s dangerous bill became the law of the land, women across the country trying to start families would have fewer options and resources all because of her extremism.”
New Republic: GOP Congresswoman Shows Mind-Blowing Hypocrisy on Alabama IVF Ruling
Tori Otten | February 23, 2024
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A Republican representative is outraged by the recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling restricting IVF—despite supporting a federal bill that would have done just that.
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Steel’s ‘solidarity’ with Alabaman IVF patients rings pretty hollow considering she co-sponsored the Life at Conception Act. The measure, which was introduced first in 2021 with 166 co-sponsors and then again in 2023 with 124, would have established that life begins at fertilization. The bill has not advanced since.
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Like the Alabama ruling, the Life at Conception Act would have severely restricted—if not effectively banned—IVF treatments as well, because it grants “equal protection” to “preborn” humans, including embryos. Since it’s common for fertilized eggs not to survive the IVF process, the act would put doctors at risk of being charged for wrongful death of embryos. That risk would be enough to scupper the IVF industry.
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And that is exactly what is happening in Alabama. The state Supreme Court ruled 7–2 last week that embryos created through IVF can be considered children and are thus protected under the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. Since then, at least three fertility clinics have ceased IVF treatments to avoid potential legal repercussions.
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The University of Alabama at Birmingham’s medical school announced Wednesday that it is pausing IVF treatments. The next day, the Center for Reproductive Medicine and Mobile Infirmary Medical Center, which was a defendant in the Supreme Court lawsuit, and Alabama Fertility Specialists announced they were also halting IVF treatment.
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Other Republican lawmakers have also spoken out against the Alabama decision, and their responses are just as hypocritical as Steel’s, although for a different reason.
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