Former President Donald Trump said Friday that he would "strongly support the availability of IVF" and called on lawmakers in Alabama to preserve access to the treatment. It was his first comment since an Alabama Supreme Court ruling led some providers in the state to suspend their in vitro fertilization programs and has divided Republicans nationally over the issue.
Trump, in a post on his Truth Social network, said: "Under my leadership, the Republican Party will always support the creation of strong, thriving, healthy American families. We want to make it easier for mothers and fathers to have babies, not harder!"
The comments come after a ruling by the all-Republican Alabama Supreme Court, among the nation's most conservative judicial panels, that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law. Since then, some Alabama clinics and hospitals, including the University of Alabama at Birmingham health system, have announced pauses on IVF services.
SEE MORE: Alabama court ruling raises new concerns for IVF patients across US
The fallout from Alabama has deepened divisions among conservatives over abortion and other reproductive services in a campaign season already fraught with debates over whether Republicans should pursue a national abortion ban after the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 ruling that overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide.
Democrats and Republicans in the Alabama Statehouse are both working on legislation that would "clarify" the definition of human being for the purposes of IVF procedures, CNN reported Friday.
The legislation would make clear that fertilized human eggs that are stored outside the uterus do not qualify as human beings under Alabama law.Democrats introduced a bill to make the legal changes on Thursday, while Republicans are expected to introduce similar legislation soon.
Alabama's Attorney General Steve Marshall, meanwhile, released a statement to multiple outlets on Friday that said his office "has no intention of using the recent Alabama Supreme Court decision as a basis for prosecuting IVF families or providers."
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