President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign placed Alabama’s recent in vitro fertilization controversy on blast in their latest push Thursday, claiming it was a consequence of overturning Roe v. Wade.
Biden’s campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, targeted former President Donald Trump and his supporters in a statement after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are legally children, and therefore the destruction of the embryos constitutes a crime.
“What is happening in Alabama right now is only possible because Donald Trump’s Supreme Court justices overturned Roe v. Wade,” Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement. “Across the nation, MAGA Republicans are inserting themselves into the most personal decisions a family can make, from contraception to IVF. With their latest attack on reproductive freedom, these so-called pro-life Republicans are preventing loving couples from growing their families. If Donald Trump is elected, there is no question that he will impose his extreme anti-freedom agenda on the entire country.”
The statement comes after the University of Alabama at Birmingham health system announced it was halting its IVF procedures on Wednesday in the wake of the ruling and over concerns that it would face lawsuits.
The Alabama ruling last week is the latest political headache for the Republican Party amid a crucial election year that will likely pit Trump against Biden. Republicans have already been on the defensive in recent elections when it comes to reproductive freedom following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe in the summer of 2022.
The president also issued a statement on Thursday, slamming the health system’s decision and blaming the reversal of Roe v. Wade.
“Today, in 2024 in America, women are being turned away from emergency rooms and forced to travel hundreds of miles for health care, while doctors fear prosecution for providing an abortion,” Biden said. “Now, a court in Alabama put access to some fertility treatments at risk for families who are desperately trying to get pregnant. The disregard for women’s ability to make these decisions for themselves and their families is outrageous and unacceptable.”
Biden added that he and Vice President Kamala Harris are working to get federal protection for women when it comes to abortion.
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Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) highlighted a bill she introduced in January that would protect access to IVF procedures on Wednesday, claiming she knew the day would come when IVF treatments were targeted.
“For years — even before Roe was overturned — I’ve sounded the alarm that they’d come for IVF,” Duckworth posted to X. “It’s started in Alabama, but we can’t wait for the next red state to decide how women can start their families until we take action. We must pass my bill to protect IVF access for all.”