Democrats invite reproductive rights advocates and put abortion and IVF in the spotlight
Among the hundreds of guests who will fill the House chamber Thursday evening — each invited to telegraph different political messages — will be dozens of Democratic-invited reproductive rights advocates who want to center access to abortion and fertility treatments. election year.
Twenty-eight Democrats in the House of Representatives and at least seven in the Senate chose their guests because of their reproductive health experiences or advocacy backgrounds. They include the first person born in the United States through in vitro fertilization, women who relied on IVF to become pregnant, abortion providers and women who were denied abortion by state bans after learning of fatal fetal abnormalities or developing conditions that threatened their health and fertility. .
It’s all part of an effort by Democrats to emphasize their support for reproductive rights while taking advantage of the tough restrictions imposed by Republican-led states since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. It’s also a way for them to highlight how Republicans — many of whom have supported abortion bans — have proven their support the concept of fetal personality – have endorsed policies that could jeopardize access to abortion and fertility treatments.
“It is the fight of our lives. We have Republicans – they want to force women to stay pregnant, or prevent women from getting pregnant,” said Rep. Lois Frankel of Florida, who represents Dr. Cherise Felix, a gynecologist who fled Tennessee’s abortion ban to practice at a Planned Parenthood in West Palm Beach. “The threat from Donald Trump is real. It is because of him that Roe v. Wade was overturned, and we know Joe Biden will be a fighter for us.”
After the Alabama Supreme Court ruled last month that frozen embryos should be considered children, a decision that threatened access to IVF in the state, Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, invited Elizabeth Carr – the first American to laboratory was conceived. Mrs. Carr was born in 1981 in Norfolk, Virginia. (Alabama lawmakers passed a law Wednesday to protect IVF providers from criminal and civil liability.)
“It is more important than ever that we work to protect access to IVF services across the country,” Mr Kaine said in a statement.
Representative Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, the No. 2 Democrat in the House of Representatives, invited Amanda Zurawski, a prosecutor in a lawsuit against Texas abortion ban, who was only allowed to undergo the procedure after going into septic shock when her waters broke at 18 weeks of pregnancy. On Thursday, Ms. Zurawski said she turned to IVF to start a family after the infection she contracted during her previous pregnancy compromised her fertility, and that she moved her frozen embryos abroad after the ruling in Alabama, fearing a similar restriction could come into effect. down in Texas.
Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, Kayla Smith invited, who spent thousands of dollars traveling there for an abortion in 2022 after she was denied one in Idaho after learning her baby — which she insisted Thursday was “highly sought after” — had fatal defects. Ms. Smith is a plaintiff in one lawsuit filed in September challenging Idaho’s abortion ban.
Ms. Murray said it is imperative that Democrats “shine a light on the horrific consequences of Republican abortion bans, which have taken away a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions.”
Democrats in Congress have introduced legislation codify federal abortion rights and to protect access to IVF., but faced Republican opposition. Last week, Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, Republican of Mississippi, blocked the rapid passage of a bill to protect access to fertility treatments.
“It’s very clear who stands up for women and who trusts women to make decisions about their own bodies and their own health care – it’s Democrats,” said Senator Tammy Duckworth, Democrat of Illinois, who represents Dr. Amanda Adeleye, a reproductive endocrinologist, invited. “So my reminder to voters is: remember who is looking out for your reproductive rights. They are certainly not Republicans.”