By Maria Ortiz
Feb 23, 2024, 7:05 PM EST
Donald Trump said Friday that he supports the availability of in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment, joining Republicans seeking to distance themselves from an Alabama court ruling that ruled that frozen embryos must be considered children.
Trump, who spoke about the ruling on his social network Truth Social, had avoided the topic until now, since the most religious base of the Republican Party is in favor of banning both abortion and in vitro fertilization.
But more moderate Republicans prefer to allow it, although with different nuances.
“Under my leadership, the Republican Party will always support creating strong, prosperous and healthy American families. “We want to make it easier for mothers and fathers to have children, not harder!” Trump said on his social network.
Trump called on the Alabama legislature to “act quickly to find an immediate solution” to preserve the availability of in vitro fertilization in the state.
The Alabama Supreme Court issued an unprecedented ruling on February 16 establishing that frozen embryos are “children” and determining that those who destroy a frozen embryo can be held responsible for its death, which led to the suspension of fertilization. in vitro in state medical institutions.
That ruling has caused uncertainty in the United States due to the consequences it could have for access to in vitro fertilization and has already caused fertility clinics in Alabama to suspend their treatments, impacting those who were already receiving medical care or preparing for it.
The issue of the possible suspension of in vitro fertilization enters fully into the campaigns for the 2024 elections, in which both Trump and his rival for the Republican Party nomination, Nikki Haley, find themselves in a complicated position due to their positions in relation to increasing restrictions on the right to abortion at the national level, if they win the elections.
President Joe Biden is raising the issue of protecting abortion rights in his election campaign to mobilize the Democratic base.
Biden’s re-election campaign considers the Alabama Supreme Court ruling to be a direct consequence of the June 2022 reversal of the Roe vs. Wade rulingwhich since 1973 protected the right to abortion at the federal level, a legal decision that allowed each state to establish its own rules.
Alabama Supreme Court justices base their decision on anti-abortion language added to the state Constitution in 2018 that states “the policy of the state is to ensure the protection of the rights of the unborn child,” a phrase that gained new meaning after the suspension of Roe v Wade.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2% of children in the United States are born through assisted reproductive technology, including in vitro fertilization.
Keep reading:
– The controversial judicial decision in the US that considers frozen embryos to be children (and the effects it is having)
– Keys to the ruling of the Alabama Supreme Court on in vitro fertilization
– Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are boys, suspending live fertilization