House GOP navigates IVF backlash by offering symbolic measures with no force of law

WASHINGTON — Earlier this year, Rep. Michelle Steel, a two-term Republican in a competitive district in Orange County, California, co-sponsored the Life at Conception Act with 124 other GOP backers, signaling solidarity with the party’s influential anti-abortion-rights base.

But last month, when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos created as part of in vitro fertilization are children, it sparked a political dilemma for Steel. IVF has broad support, and her critics were quick to note that the bill she backed could in effect nationalize the Alabama ruling and threaten IVF, a process in which unused embryos are often discarded. The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, giving Congress the power to restrict reproductive rights.

Steel responded by co-sponsoring a nonbinding resolution to declare her support for IVF.

“As someone who struggled with infertility and personally witnessed the miracle of IVF, I strongly believe that IVF should remain protected and accessible,” she said in a statement.

But the Steel-backed Life at Conception Act says legal protections for human beings take effect at “the moment of fertilization.” She also hasn’t signed on to the Access to Family Building Act, which has only Democratic sponsors and would establish tangible legal protections for assisted reproductive technology like IVF.

Steel’s office didn’t respond to messages seeking comment on how she reconciles her pro-IVF stance with backing the Life at Conception Act.

Democrat Derek Tran, a veteran and consumer rights attorney running for Steel’s seat, called Steel a “fraud” for claiming to support IVF. Unlike her, he said he supports the Access to Family Building Act.

“She continues to spill out lies,” Tran said in an interview. “Just three weeks ago, she signed on to the Life at Conception bill. This is the second time she’s done that. And now she’s saying that she’s pro-IVF when the Life at Conception bill is anything but. So she still is just spilling out lies in order to get voters.”

A similar dilemma is facing Republicans around the country.

An Axios/Ipsos poll found that 66% of U.S. adults oppose designating IVF embryos as children, while 31% support it.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who built a reputation as a dogged social conservative before he won the gavel, wouldn’t say Thursday whether he favors a bill to legally protect IVF. Asked whether he believes discarding embryos is murder, he didn’t directly respond.

“Look, I believe in the sanctity of every human life. Always have,” he said. “And because of that I support IVF and its availability.” He said the technology has brought about an estimated 8 million births, adding that he has “many close friends” who have used IVF. 

“It needs to be readily available. It needs to be something that every American supports. And it needs to be handled in an ethical manner,” he said, lamenting that there’s “a lot of misunderstanding” about where Republicans stand on it.

Numerous Republicans in competitive districts have taken to supporting symbolic resolutions in the wake of the IVF controversy.

The Steel resolution is co-signed by Reps. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Ore., and Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz., who also represent competitive districts. Another group of Republicans has signed on to a separate resolution that similarly expresses support for IVF, including Reps. Don Bacon of Nebraska, David Schweikert of Arizona, Jen Kiggans of Virginia and Anthony D’Esposito and Nick LaLota, both of New York. All eight represent districts President Joe Biden won in 2020, making them top Democratic targets in the fall election.

Unlike Steel, the other Biden-district Republicans didn’t sponsor the Life at Conception Act. But they also haven’t supported the bill to codify protections for IVF as they walk the line between their conservative base and swing voters who favor reproductive rights.

In the Senate, a bill to protect IVF that was pushed by Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and Democrats stalled when Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., objected, saying it went too far.

Democrats say the swing-district Republicans will be enablers of a GOP agenda to bar abortion and IVF if they’re given power in the election.

“The Alabama Supreme Court did what a lot of Republican House members have wanted to do,” Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., who chairs Democrats’ campaign arm, said Monday on MSNBC. “They supported legislation called the Life at Conception Act, which is similar to what the Alabama court decided, and now all these Republicans are trying to come out saying they support IVF, but none of them are willing to support legislation to actually do that.”

“They want a national abortion ban that impacts contraception, IVF, so many other things,” she said. “Our rights are at risk.”