In vitro fertilization (IVF) is still in the news – or is it again? Republicans struggle with the messaging and the legislating of IVF because there is division in the ranks about the expendability of human embryos. There are significant questions on both moral and ethical issues about how embryos are treated.
Mary Margaret Olohan reported in an article published at The Daily Signal
that Representative Josh Brecheen (R-Oklahoma) sent a letter on Tuesday to the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asking for “transparency on in vitro
fertilization practices in the United States.” In his letter, Brecheen points
out that clinics in Western countries are prohibited from “practicing eugenics
or carelessly destroying human life.” According to Olohan, Brecheen argued that
“the U.S. does not even require IVF clinics to be transparent about their
participation in these types of practices.” She reported that Brecheen wrote, “This
carelessness has earned the U.S. the title of the ‘Wild West’ of assisted
reproductive technology.”
After
the Alabama Supreme Court protected embryonic human life, Republicans in
Congress are often put on the spot “to state their position on IVF.” Olohan
gave further explanation as to what was happening.
Despite media suggesting the contrary, the
state Supreme Court did not ban IVF but merely ruled in favor of protecting
embryonic human life. Justice Jay Mitchell wrote in his opinion that “unborn
children are ‘children’” under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act.
Experts like The Heritage Foundation’s
Emma Waters have argued that the ruling brought “much-needed regulation” to the
fertility industry in the United States….
Waters pointed out that only a handful of
state laws actually address the “moral and ethical questions raised by the artificial
creation of human life.”
“This decision ensures that the well-being
of children, not financial gain, is the top priority when it comes to IVF and
embryonic cryopreservation,” Waters argued.
Olohan
continued with a discussion about how IVF continues to be “a complicated thorn
in the side of Republicans” who have not yet decided on a successful message
about abortion for the 2024 election cycle. We can be sure that Democrats will
use both IVF and abortion as issues with which to hammer Republicans.
Republican
candidates must have a unified and responsible position on both procedures.
Since unborn embryos have been judged as “children,” they have the God-given
rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. This means that government
has the responsibility to protect them. The real question is how to do it responsibly
and in a way that is acceptable to most Americans as well as to God.
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