Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer argued that reproductive rights remain at risk despite Republicans distancing themselves from an Alabama IVF ruling.
On CNN, Whitmer was asked if GOP support for protecting IVF treatments undercuts Democratic arguments that Republicans are targeting reproductive issues.
“Let’s start with the question of IVF. Republicans are moving really quickly to distance themselves from that controversial Alabama Supreme Court IVF ruling. The Alabama’s attorney general says he has no intention of prosecuting families or IVF providers,” Dana Bash said.
“Republicans across the country now, including former President Trump, have come out in support of protecting IVF treatments. Does that undercut the arguments by Democrats that Republicans are going after in vitro fertilization?”
Whitmer strongly disagreed, citing Donald Trump’s Supreme Court appointments as jeopardizing rights like IVF and abortion.
She noted the Alabama ruling naturally extends from those appointments.
Whitmer maintained reproductive issues are still imperiled regardless of the IVF comments, pointing to the ongoing impact of Trump’s Supreme Court picks.
“Hell, no, it does not. I mean, we’ve always known that with the appointments that Donald Trump made to the United States Supreme Court, that IVF that, a woman’s ability to make her own decisions about her body and all the panoply of things that come from that were in jeopardy,” Whitmer said.
Whitmer stated reproductive freedom in Michigan has made progress but is still threatened by a potential second Trump term.
She believes government should not insert itself in personal healthcare decisions and that women have the right to choose what is best for them without interference.
“And so this Alabama Supreme Court ruling is a natural extension of that, and that’s exactly why even in a state like Michigan, where we’ve made huge strides and protecting the right to reproductive freedom is still very much at risk with the prospect of a second Trump Term,” Whitmer said.
“I think the government should get out of people’s individual personal health care decisions. I think the government has no business or expertise inserting themselves in the middle of a woman and her right to make the choice that is right for her or a family that desperately wants to have a child,” she said.
