TEXAS, USA — While some county-level Republican parties in Texas have either adopted, or are considering, resolutions that would ban in vitro fertilization, IVF, state GOP leaders have, so far, appeared hesitant to support such language.
“Everything’s changed in how people might have looked at it 20 or 30 years ago. Everyone knows someone who’s either gotten pregnant that way, or is trying to get pregnant that way, or wants to get pregnant that way,” Republican consultant Matt Mackowiak told us on Inside Texas Politics. “So, I think as a party, we want to be on the side of life. We want to be on the side of people starting families, however they can.”
IVF has been top of mind since the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos resulting from the procedure are, legally, children.
And after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in 2022, and the national abortion protections it offered, there’s been growing concern by many that IVF would eventually become a target of those restrictions as well.
The Dallas Morning News reports the Montgomery County GOP adopted a resolution regulating IVF, while the Liberty County Republican Party backed a resolution to remove an exception for “assisted reproduction” from state code regarding criminal homicide.
But Mackowiak, who also serves as the chair of the Travis County Republican Party, says he’s heard of no serious discussion at the state legislative level to ban IVF.
And the consultant says while there are reasonable questions about how to discard leftover embryos, you can address that issue without banning the procedure altogether.
In terms of pure politics, the Republican says Democrats have the wind at their back on the abortion issue and they’re pressing their current political advantage.
But he also says things could change before the general election on November 5.
“Is it a turnout issue? Is it an issue that affects swing voters? Perhaps urban women, where it may drive them away from Republicans towards Democrats,” Mackowiak explained. “This could also work the other way where you could see perhaps Hispanic voters who are overwhelmingly Catholic who might have traditionally voted Democratic wanting to vote Republican because of their pro-life position.”
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(Note: this video was published March 7)