December 2022 ➡️ Now Republicans are still blocking us from protecting access to IVF. Can't trust a word they say. pic.twitter.com/bZjczTn6OO — Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) February 29, 2024 News –> Dems are planning a big push to hang the Alabama ruling around the necks of Republicans *in state legislative races.* Dems plan to highlight fetal …
Late Night Open Thread: The GOP Hates Women & FamiliesPost + Comments (39)
Trump’s splenetic reaction to the Alabama news smacked of genuine political panic, illustrating the GOP bind. Under his leadership, Trump tweeted, the GOP would support “the availability of fertility treatments like IVF in every State in America,” adding that “the OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of Americans” support IVF to “have a precious baby.”…
Meanwhile, the Alabama decision is crystallizing a sense among Democrats that the last stand in defense of reproductive rights will unfold in the states. That’s enabling them to mobilize a socially liberal coalition in these oft-overlooked local contests while dramatically raising their stakes.
For too long, the DLCC’s Williams said, Republicans have gotten away with “fly by night” tactics, in which they pass “egregious, horrific laws” and then “preserve their own power through backdoor deals on redistricting.” Now, said Williams, “they are going to be held accountable.”
Coda: To see why it will be hard for Republicans to pay lip service to IVF while also pledging fealty to fetal personhood, see @saletan's close reading of Mike Johnson's contortions:https://t.co/uSu3CLMaB2
— Greg Sargent (@GregTSargent) February 28, 2024
… FOR MANY YEARS, Johnson worked as an attorney for and with the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal organization that later changed its name to the Alliance Defending Freedom. In 2013, Johnson and other ADF-affiliated attorneys filed a lawsuit on behalf of Louisiana College, a pro-life institution that had previously employed Johnson, against federal regulations which—according to the lawsuit—required employer health insurance plans “to provide free coverage of contraceptive services, including so-called ‘emergency contraceptives’ that cause early abortions.” The lawsuit alleged that some drugs and devices covered by the regulations, including Plan B, ella, and some IUDs, were “known abortifacients, in that they can cause the death of an embryo by preventing it from implanting in the wall of the uterus.”…
In 2016, Johnson was elected to Congress, and in 2017, he cosponsored the Life at Conception Act. The bill declared that personhood, including a constitutionally guaranteed right to life, applied to “every member of the species homo sapiens” from “the moment of fertilization, cloning,” or any other mechanism of creation. By referring to cloning, Johnson and his colleagues signaled that their intent was to protect embryos in labs and clinics, not just in the womb.
Johnson cosponsored the same legislation in 2019, 2021, and 2023. And in speeches and hearings, he emphasized that life began at conception, not implantation…
Since then, Johnson has continued to focus on conception as the point at which a human being acquires rights. In 2022, he introduced the Unborn Child Support Act, reasoning that “a pregnant mother should be able to seek child support for the unborn child dating all the way back to the moment of conception.”…
Reminder: Republicans had their chance to pass my bill to protect IVF over a year ago. They blocked it.
It didn’t have to come to this.°https://t.co/d3UMW5v35h
— Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) February 24, 2024
Reminder: Without Trump's MAGA Supreme Court majority, there is no lower court ruling attacking IVF.
Trump & co. want to restrict women's choices.
They succeeded—for now. It's up to us to stop them. pic.twitter.com/yFsaNgzYIk
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 28, 2024