#MarilynLands, a Dem who made #ReproductiveRights a centerpiece of her campaign in deeply #conservative#Alabama, won a special election to the Alabama Legislature.
Lands’ victory in the suburban district in the #DeepSouth state was celebrated by #Democrats who have attempted to portray the state #GOP as too extreme on #abortion & reproductive rights.
“Today, #Alabama women & families sent a clear message that will be heard in Montgomery & across the nation. Our legislature must repeal AL’s no-exceptions #AbortionBan, fully restore #access to #IVF, & protect the #right to #contraception,” #MarilynLands said.
"Democrats have strong reason to cheer this rather amazing election result [in Alabama], particularly because it confirms, once again, that the Dobbs decision is politically radioactive for the GOP. The IVF case out of Alabama further proved that social and religious extremists are still far from done, and that their weak compatriots in Washington will readily enable them."
Before you take a political stand, know the history and science behind IVF – a decades-old procedure that has helped 1 million+ babies to be born since 1996.
"On Thursday, the Republican Study Committee (RSC), a conservative caucus made up of the vast majority of the Republican majority of the House of Representatives, released their new budget. Along with raising the Social Security retirement age and decimating Medicaid, the RSC backs the Life at Conception Act, which would ban both abortion and IVF in all 50 states by stating that from the 'moment of conception' an embryo is a human being."
"The unusual thing you’re seeing is some Republicans being honest about their version of morality.
If fertilized eggs are children of any sort, IVF cannot exist. About 50-70 percent of embryos end up discarded during the normal process leading up to implantation."
P.S. Some 15% of zygotes do not implant in the uterine wall. Of those remaining, only about half implant. Of those that implant, between a third and a half then naturally abort.
As Jason Sattler notes, with the IVF debacle, Republicans are trying to lie re: what their "life begins at conception" mantra really means. But supporters like Lila Rose won't let them lie: shey says,
“Politicians cannot call themselves ‘pro-life,’ affirm the truth that human life begins at the moment of fertilization, and then enact laws that allow the callous killing of these preborn children simply because they were created through IVF."
The budget proposal from the #farRight#MAGA-affiliated group of about 170 #HouseRepublicans would effectively create a national #abortionBan and ban on in-vitro fertilization procedures (#IVF) by creating legal protections for human embryos starting at “the moment of fertilization.” It mentions the word “#abortion” 77 times.
Robert B. Hubbell lists the points in the 2025 budget wish-list released yesterday by the Republican Study Committee, which comprises 80% of Republicans in the US House:
"1. Raise the age for retirement under Social Security and benefits for some beneficiaries."
"2. End Medicare as we know it by replacing it with a “premium support model” that would force Medicare to compete with private plans by giving beneficiaries a subsidy to buy private plans in lieu of Medicare. That approach would reduce funding for Medicare and weaken the program for Americans who cannot obtain private coverage.
Weaken the Affordable Care Act by reducing subsidies and implementing limiting regulations."
"4. Declare that 'life begins at conception' and extend the 14th Amendment to fertilized eggs, thereby giving them greater constitutional rights than women after the Dobbs decision. Such a policy would constitute a national ban on IVF and abortion alike. …
Based on the above priorities alone, no American should vote for any Republican."
"The anti-abortion movement is turning on Republican lawmakers who support bills to protect in vitro fertilization, accusing them of sanctioning murder.
As many politicians raced in recent weeks to get to the right side of public opinion on IVF, some of the country’s biggest and most influential anti-abortion groups are pushing back."
~ Megan Messerly and Alice Miranda Ollstein
Could not happen to a more desrving group of folks.
In his SOTU, President Joe Biden called out attacks on abortion and IVF. In the video linked below, Robert P. Jones notes that only 9% of Americans support a total ban on abortion. 64% say abortion should be legal in most or all cases. This is why Republicans want to hedge on what they have held up to now about IVF — which is a direct consequence of their insistence that a human person is present from the moment of conception.
There are no easy ways to establish reproductive rights in America including the right to an abortion. I don’t see Democrats gaining enough Congressional control for Biden to carry out his promise to “sign a bill.” Elie Mystal says it can only be possible through enlarging the Supreme Court. https://www.thenation.com/article/society/to-preserve-abortion-rights-biden-must-expand-court/