Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) on Sunday sought to clarify Republicans’ stance on contraceptives and in vitro fertilization (IVF), arguing that Republican lawmakers are not against these, but against less obvious measures included in some bills. reproductive.
“Democrats right now are saying Republicans are against contraceptives, they’re against in vitro fertilization, none of those things are true,” Lankford said in NewsNation’s”The Hill Sunday.” “And none of those things are really being challenged.”
“What are they [Democrats] They’re putting in some of this legislation little position pills in the legislation so they can say, ‘Hey, you oppose contraceptives because we had a contraceptive bill and you voted against it,'” Lankford continued. “Well, I did vote against it. because they also challenged what is called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act for the first time in Congressional history.”
O Religious Freedom Restoration Actt of 1993 prohibits any U.S. agency, department, or employee from substantially burdening a person’s religious exercise.
“We would say your faith doesn’t matter if you’re a health care provider, whatever…insurance company…your faith no longer advises that. Well, we’ve never done that,” Lankford said.
Pointing to a proposal in a contraceptive bill regarding sex change operations, Lankford added: “So these little things that were included in a contraceptive bill, no one talked about them.
“They just said that Republicans were against contraceptives and would just ignore all the other aspects that were included in the bill, which obviously Republicans are saying is a bridge too far,” he added. “We are not opposed to contraceptives; we are not opposed to in vitro fertilization. We are opposed to the areas that you have suppressed.”
In vitro fertilization has gained national prominence in recent months following several landmark court rulings and legislative efforts.
Lankford argued that in vitro fertilization is “protected” across the country, even in Alabama, where the state Supreme Court ruled in February that frozen embryos were children, and those who destroyed them could be held responsible for their deaths.
IVF services have mostly been halted in the state, although lawmakers quickly passed legislation to address the civil and criminal liability of IVF providers, allowing services to resume.
“No one is threatening this anywhere in the country and it has become a divisive issue,” he said.
The debate over IVF has been heated in recent weeks on Capitol Hill, where senators have introduced competing bills aimed at protecting access to the treatment.
The Right to In Vitro Fertilization Act – sponsored by a group of Democratic lawmakers and the In Vitro Fertilization Protection Act – sponsored by two Republican senators – were killed earlier this month along party lines.
Democrats blocked a unanimous request from Republicans, arguing that the GOP bill did not go far enough to guarantee access to in vitro fertilization. Republicans responded a day later, blocking the Democrats’ bill from advancing.
Lankford co-sponsored a separate bill earlier this month focused on supporting alternatives to in vitro fertilization by promoting medical services that attempt to address the causes of infertility among women.
The bill, titled the Reproductive Empowerment and Support through Optimal Restoration Act, or RESTORE Act, appears to reduce the use of IVF services among people trying to have children.
If passed, the legislation would promote awareness of and access to restorative reproductive medicine, defined by the International Institute of Restorative Reproductive Medicine as “any scientific approach to reproductive medicine that seeks to cooperate with or restore the normal physiology and anatomy of the human reproductive system.” ”
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