(NewsNation) — An Alabama Supreme Court ruling that determined frozen embryos can be considered children under state law has Republicans clarifying their position and voicing support for in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Justices ruled last week that three couples who had frozen embryos destroyed in a mishap at a storage facility could pursue wrongful death claims. The ruling has effectively halted in vitro fertilization at some fertility clinics in the state.
Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump took to Truth Social to show his support for IVF. He said under his leadership “the Republican Party will always support the creation of strong thriving, healthy American families.”
Trump called on Alabama lawmakers to act and said he would “strongly support the availability of IVF.”
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley initially took a different approach and seemed to side with the ruling, saying: “When you talk about an embryo, you are talking about, to me, that’s a life.”
Haley later said she did not endorse the ruling but thought the case should be treated with “the utmost respect.” She told NewsNation that fertility treatments should be a personal decision between the physician and the parents.
“I see embryos as babies; other people may not see it that way. … But at the end of the day, we don’t need to have the government intruding in something like this,” she said.
One Republican group is worried about how the ruling could impact the election and fears the Democrats will try to manipulate the issue in November.
An internal memo sent by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) called the Alabama ruling “fodder that’s basically food for Democrats hoping to manipulate the abortion issue for electoral gain,” adding that “there are zero Republican Senate candidates who support efforts to restrict access to fertility treatments.”
The NRSC memo also outlined key talking points for Republican candidates to highlight when discussing IVF and fertility treatments, including expressing support for IVF, opposing restrictions on IVF and campaigning for increased access.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also weighed in on the topic over the weekend.
“I think the goal is to make sure that we can find a pathway to ensure that parents who otherwise may not have had the opportunity to have a child will be able to have access to the IVF process,” Abbott said in an interview.
On the other side of the aisle, Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois said Sunday she is “devastated” at how this could affect reproductive treatments.
“Republicans will say whatever they need to say to try to cover themselves on this but they’ve been clear and Donald Trump has been the guy leading this effort to eliminate women’s reproductive rights and reproductive choice,” she said.
President Joe Biden has ripped the Alabama court decision as “outrageous and unacceptable” and said the ruling is a “direct result” of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and vowed to keep fighting for women’s reproductive rights.
Lawmakers in Alabama have already started looking for ways to protect in vitro fertilization services in the state after multiple providers paused treatment in the wake of the ruling.