<\/p>\n
Texas Attorney General Ken\u00a0Paxton talks with reporters in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall.<\/p>\n
Tom Williams\/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Imag<\/p>\n
Attorney General and Republican U.S. Senate nominee\u00a0Ken Paxton<\/a> broke with his state party\u2019s opposition to in-vitro fertilization Thursday, calling himself a \u201cstrong supporter\u201d of the fertility treatment.<\/p>\n \u201cStrong families are the foundation of a strong nation,\u201d Paxton said in a statement shared exclusively with The Texas Tribune. \u201cEvery child is a blessing, and every family hoping to welcome a child deserves support and compassion. I am a strong supporter of IVF and pro-family policies that help Americans experience the wonders of parenthood.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Paxton\u2019s support puts him in the same camp as President Donald Trump, but on the opposite side of the issue as the Republican Party of Texas.<\/p>\n The state party, in a platform and legislative priorities<\/a> adopted last weekend at its Houston convention, called on lawmakers to \u201cprotect fetal life from destructive practices, such as IVF and commercial surrogacy.\u201d<\/p>\n Another plank of the state GOP platform states that the party opposes \u201cpublic funding for procedures that destroy embryonic life, including IVF\u201d, and called for regulation to prevent \u201cembryo discarding, eugenic practices and commodification of human life.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n But Paxton\u2019s campaign said he would work to safeguard IVF if elected to the U.S. Senate. The Republican nominee supports the IVF Protection Act, a bill from Sens. Katie Britt, R-Alabama, and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to bar Medicaid funding for any state that bans IVF. Paxton will cosponsor the bill if elected.<\/p>\n Paxton had taken heat<\/a> from Democratic nominee James Talarico\u2019s campaign over the Texas GOP\u2019s stated opposition to IVF.<\/p>\n Polling on IVF finds the treatment to be highly popular; a 2024 Pew Research Center survey found<\/a> 70% of Americans say access to IVF is a good thing, while only 8% say it\u2019s bad. But while high-level Republicans, including President Donald Trump, are supportive of IVF, the treatment is divisive among conservative activists and abortion opponents.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The fertility treatment was thrust into the political spotlight in 2024 when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are children, under a state law extending rights to \u201cunborn children,\u201d and that fertility clinics could be found liable for wrongful death if embryos are destroyed.<\/p>\n The ruling immediately chilled IVF access in the state, with several providers pausing treatments. Top Republicans came out in support of IVF, including then-candidate Trump, and Alabama\u2019s Republican Legislature quickly passed a law<\/a> shielding IVF providers and patients from civil and criminal liability for embryo destruction, allowing the state\u2019s clinics to resume fertility treatments.<\/p>\n Numerous Texas Republicans, including Gov. Greg Abbott, affirmed<\/a> their support for IVF access in the wake of the Alabama decision. And Trump made protecting IVF a plank of his presidential campaign, pledging<\/a> to make the treatment affordable by mandating that insurance companies pay for it or by having the government pay.<\/p>\n As president, Trump has not gone that far. He signed an executive order asking for policy recommendations on the issue. His administration has proposed<\/a> a rule to attempt to entice employers to offer fertility benefits and negotiated lower prices for a handful of fertility drugs on the TrumpRx government pharmaceutical marketplace.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Senators in both parties have expressed interest in protecting IVF, but the body has not passed any legislation and Republicans voted down<\/a> a Democratic proposal to establish a nationwide right to IVF. Britt and Cruz\u2019s bill to strip Medicaid funding from any state that bans IVF, introduced in 2024, did not receive a vote. Democrat Patty Murray objected to passing it via unanimous consent, saying<\/a> it did not address what would happen in states that have fetal personhood laws or whether clinics could dispose of unused embryos.<\/p>\n A wing of the religious right opposes IVF on moral grounds. The procedure often involves the creation of numerous embryos, some of which end up discarded if they are not healthy or viable. Some religious conservatives \u2014 including Texas Republican delegates \u2014 see the destruction of embryos as abortion and think it should be banned. Others see procedures that create embryos outside of the mother\u2019s body as the \u201ccommodification of human life.\u201d<\/p>\n The state party platform states that life begins at fertilization, and that IVF is therefore destructive. The Texas GOP wants mandatory reporting on embryo creation, storage and disposition, and wants legislators to instead promote \u201cethical alternatives,\u201d including holistic infertility treatments.<\/p>\n The Texas GOP\u2019s platform, adopted every two years by delegates at its convention, is a nonbinding document intended to guide the state\u2019s Republican legislators, but is often further to the right than the party\u2019s rank-and-file voters and candidates.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n This article<\/a> first appeared on The Texas Tribune<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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