Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) hung signs outside his office opposing in vitro fertilization (IVF), his latest public statement against the procedure for which most Republicans have rushed to express support.
“If you believe that life begins at conception as I do, there is no difference between an abortion and the destruction of an IVF embryo,” says one poster, quoting Rosendale.
Another states: “IVF destroys more lives than planned parenthood.” Quoting a post from conservative think tank the Witherspoon Institute and a Article by Catholic News Agencyclaims there are about 700,000 fertilized IVF embryos “frozen, destroyed and experimented on” annually, and cites the Planned Parenthood report Report 2022-23saying it provided 392,715 abortions.
The signs went up Thursday morning, a Rosendale spokesperson said.
“My heart aches for couples who are struggling to conceive a child, but I humbly ask all of my colleagues to educate themselves about the practice of IVF and ask themselves whether IVF truly aligns with their pro-life values.” , Rosendale said in a statement. .
The posters are not the only public statement Rosendale has made against IVF. Earlier this week, he proposed an amendment to a defense spending bill to prevent any of its funds from being spent on in vitro fertilization. This change was not made in order.
IVF became a topic of national debate after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that the embryos were children, threatening IVF centers that feared the repercussions of the standard process of discarding or destroying embryos. .
Since that decision, most national Republicans have gone out of their way to express their support for in vitro fertilization. Earlier this month, all Senate Republicans signed a pledge saying they “strongly support” continued national access to IVF, even as they blocked a Democratic bill to codify access to IVF.
Rosendale will leave office at the end of the year, opting not to run for re-election and abandoning a Senate bid amid opposition from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Republican Party’s Senate campaign arm.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
