Democrats criticize IVF bill to avoid discussing abortion issue: Cruz

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said Democrats are falsely claiming that “evil Republicans” want to take away in vitro fertilization to distract from their stance on abortion.

Cruz and Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) introduced the IVF Protection Act on Monday. The bill amends the Social Security Act by providing federal protection for IVF services. If a state or local government bans IVF, that jurisdiction loses its Medicaid funding. 

On the Citizen McCain podcast with Meghan McCain, Cruz said: “It’s an issue now where, to the best of my knowledge, all 100 senators strongly support IVF. All of us want to see it protected. I don’t know of a single senator that disagrees with that on either side of the aisle.”

The Texas senator also said there is no “secret cabal” that is looking to ban IVF. 

“The challenge is that, in the wake of the Alabama Supreme Court decision, there were a lot of partisans that had a political objective where Democrats are trying to tell the story across the country that these evil Republicans want to take away IVF,” Cruz said.

He said this was part of the Democrats’ attempt to divert attention from the party’s position on abortion. 

“Every Democrat in the Senate supports zero limits, literally up until the moment of birth, late-term partial birth abortion,” he said. “That is, 9% of Americans support that proposition.” 

Cruz slammed Democrats for telling a “lie” about how Republicans view IVF rather than being truthful about their own position on abortion. 

“It’s a lie that they’re going to spend millions of dollars telling, and it’s a lie that a lot of the media is going to amplify,” Cruz said. 

Britt also said the Democrats are already exploiting uncertainty caused by the closure of several IVF clinics due to the Alabama Supreme Court ruling in their campaign ads.

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Both Cruz and Britt expressed their continued hope for bipartisan collaboration on the bill, stressing the chance for Congress to come together.

“I believe we are the party of life. We’re the party of parents. We’re the party of families. And IVF is a tool that so many have used to bring life into this world,” Britt said. “As a party, we need to stand firmly in protecting IVF.”