Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks during the Texas GOP convention in the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston Friday, June 12, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
Attorney General Ken Paxton is walking back his full-throated support for in vitro fertilization, saying he backs restrictions that could limit access to the treatment for many people who are trying to have children.
Paxton told the Washington Examiner over the weekend that “we need to have restrictions, so that we don’t lose fertilized eggs, if that’s possible.”
The stance puts him closer in line with anti-abortion advocates and the state GOP, which recently adopted anti-IVF language into its platform, calling for lawmakers to address “destructive practices, such as IVF.” The treatment has become a hot-button issue because it sometimes results in discarded embryos.
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Republican leaders, including Paxton, who is in a tight U.S. Senate race, have had to juggle those concerns with the party’s push to turn around the country’s flagging birth rate. Many national Republicans say they support the procedure as “pro-family,” including President Donald Trump and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who has sponsored legislation to protect access to IVF.
READ MORE: The Texas GOP wants to stop all abortions. It’s willing to punish women to do it.
In response to the state GOP’s action last month, Paxton distinguished himself as a “strong supporter of IVF and pro-family policies that help Americans experience the wonders of parenthood.”
But in his interview with the Examiner, he clarified that regulation regarding IVF needed to be examined. He also walked back his previous support for Cruz’s bill, the IVF Protection Act.
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“It’s easy to say I’d support a vote, but I would need to read the bill, find out exactly what it does, find out what protections are in there,” Paxton said.
At the same time, he acknowledged that “there are also a lot of couples that couldn’t have children without this, and so you’ve got two competing good things that need to be dealt with.”
Paxton’s office said the new remarks were in line with his previous position.
“Ken Paxton is a champion for Texas families and has consistently fought to protect life, which is why he is a supporter of IVF,” a spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday. “Any attempt to misconstrue his position by claiming that he ‘changed his mind’ is categorically false and simply twisting his words into something they are not.”
IVF was used more than 450,000 times across the country in 2024, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.
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The procedure rose to national attention that year after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos should be considered children, leading many of the state’s top providers to halt their operations. Cruz’s bill came partially as a response as Republicans scrambled to react to the effective ban. The Alabama legislature has since passed legislation to allow IVF in the state.
Democrats have emphasized their support for the procedure. Paxton’s Democratic opponent, state Rep. James Talarico, “stands with a majority of Texans by supporting IVF and defending Texas women’s right to control their own bodies,” his campaign spokesperson JT Ennis said in a statement.
“Ken Paxton has consistently pushed to criminalize women’s health care and put politicians in the middle of decisions that should be left to Texas women, their doctors, and their faith,” Ennis said. “That’s why it’s no surprise Ken Paxton is calling for restrictions on IVF, a safe, effective procedure that helps thousands of Texans start their families each year.”
While some Republicans have since advocated for IVF, pro-abortion groups have remained skeptical that anti-abortion lawmakers will actually protect the procedure, especially as anti-abortion groups advocate for restrictions that could narrow access to IVF.
Critics of Cruz’s bill have noted that it only threatens to punish states that ban IVF, not those that place limits on access that effectively restrict the procedure.
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“This is a blatant and hypocritical attempt for two staunchly anti-abortion Republicans to try to save face with voters,” the abortion rights group Reproductive Freedom for All said in response to Cruz’s bill. “Senate Republicans not only support policies that threaten IVF and birth control, they also enabled Trump to appoint conservatives to the Supreme Court who overturned Roe v. Wade and emboldened extremist judges to attack fertility treatments.”
Abortion is illegal in Texas, with no exceptions for rape or incest and with criminal punishments for those who help facilitate an abortion. Anti-abortion groups are now turning their focus to restricting medication abortions, and are debating more extreme policies such as banning IVF, surrogacy and criminal punishments for women who get abortions.