Britt bill yanking Medicaid to states that ban IVF ‘phony,’ group claims
An abortion rights group alleged a bill introduced Monday by Sen. Katie Britt that would make states ineligible for Medicaid dollars if they ban in vitro fertilization treatments is “phony.”
“The GOP is a threat to reproductive freedom but Ted Cruz and Katie Britt want to try to hide it with a phony bill,” tweeted Reproductive Freedom for All. “We aren’t buying it—and neither are voters.”
The group noted that Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., already introduced a bill protecting IVF “and Republicans blocked it.”
Mini Timmaraju, the group’s president and CEO, called the legislation by Cruz and Alabama’s junior Republican senator “just another example of the GOP trying to save face with voters, but their record speaks for itself.
“Senate Republicans support policies that threaten IVF & birth control & they enabled Trump & helped him carry out his anti-abortion agenda. Voters won’t forget,” she said.
Britt spokesman Sean Ross accused abortions rights groups’ criticism of the bill of fearmongering and gaslighting voters.
“It’s sad but not surprising that leftwing pro-abortion groups would rather continue to fear-monger and gaslight ahead of November’s election than support a commonsense, common-ground solution that would protect IVF access in every corner of America,” Ross said. “As Sen. Britt has said, IVF enables loving parents to experience the miracle of life and start and grow their families. Abortion does the complete opposite.”
States that ban IVF would be ineligible to receive Medicaid funding under the proposed bill.
The Republican senators are reacting to the public backlash over a recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling that said embryos are protected human life.