Speaker Johnson takes stand against IVF protection: report

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to correct the author and headline.

Republican Speaker Mike Johnson will not be putting any bills on the House floor to protect the right of Americans to access a decades-old assisted reproduction process known as in-vitro fertilization, or IVF. Recently, at least two Senate Republicans have also blocked legislation to protect IVF after Democrats put up bills to support the procedure. Millions of babies have been born via IVF.

Speaking at the GOP retreat in West Virginia Thursday, Johnson said “he does not think Congress has a role to play when it comes to IVF, as some members have been pushing for in wake of Alabama ruling. But [he] says all Republicans support access to IVF,” according to CNN Capitol Hill reporter Melanie Zanona.

U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) responded to the news, saying: “Translation: Speaker Johnson and House Republicans do not support legislation to protect access to IVF and will not pass any. Their refusal to act speaks volumes.”

Two weeks ago U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) blocked legislation from Democratic Senators Parry Murray and Tammy Duckworth that would have protected IVF.

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Sen. Hyde-Smith falsely claimed the bill would legalize lab-created human-animal cross-species, or, as she said, “human-animal chimeras.”

Days ago, Senate Republicans blocked a similar bill to protect IVF, this one focused on protecting access to IVF by members of the military.

U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) blasted them over that action: “Senate Republicans blocked yet another bill to protect IVF—this time for our veterans and servicemembers. Doesn’t seem like something a pro-IVF party would do!”

One week ago, Speaker Johnson told CBS News it’s “a brave new world. IVF’s only been invented, I think, in the early ’70s.”

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The New Republic’s Tori Otten blasted him, writing Johnson “is doing some serious mental gymnastics to explain why Republicans are doing nothing to protect IVF.”

“He has repeatedly voted against increasing reproductive rights, ranging from abortion access to contraception,” Otten continued at TNR. “He also co-sponsored the Life at Conception Act, alongside most of the rest of his caucus, which would federally enshrine fetal personhood. But when asked in November about his history on legislating against fertility treatments, Johnson claimed he couldn’t remember ‘any of those measures.'”

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