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WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — Senator Ted Cruz of Texas has introduced legislation that would federally mandate in vitro fertilization (IVF) by cutting off Medicaid funding to states that prohibit the embryo-destroying practice.
Cruz co-introduced the bill, titled the “IVF Protection Act,” with Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama, a fellow Republican.
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He said in a Bloomberg TV interview with Annmarie Hordern that the legislation was prompted by “fear” and “confusion” over the Alabama Supreme Court ruling recognizing frozen embryos as children under the law. Human life begins at conception, and all human beings, including embryos, have a right to life.
“People didn’t want anything to threaten IVF. I agree with that, Katie agrees with that. So we said, let’s draft a simple, straightforward federal bill that… says you have a federal right to have access to IVF,” Cruz told Hordern.
The bill conditions Medicaid payments to states upon their refusal, and their local governments’ refusal, to prohibit IVF.
Cruz called IVF, which artificially fertilizes eggs with sperm outside of the human body, separating procreation from sexuality, a “miraculous medical technology.” He failed to mention the fact that IVF entails the conscious creation of scores of “excess” embryonic human children and destroys as many as 93% of these embryos, in addition to the health harms it poses to children and its high failure rate.
It is also frequently used by homosexual and transgender-identifying individuals to obtain children.
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While the Alabama Supreme Court has acknowledged the humanity of these embryos, the state has since enacted a new law protecting the industry after national media pressure.
The practice has been strongly endorsed by former President Donald Trump and many prominent conservatives, as well as the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
In March, Cruz called IVF a “blessing” and said that all 100 senators “support IVF” practices. His position stands in contradiction to his otherwise pro-life voting record on abortion.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and other pro-life groups have denounced removing protections for babies conceived through IVF. Their letter stated in part:
It is an indisputable scientific fact that human life begins at the moment of fertilization. The moment of fertilization, when an individual human zygote is formed, marks the starting point of each human being’s life. The embryonic period is simply one stage of development in the life of a human being–just like the fetal, childhood, adolescent, and adult stages of life.
A child in the embryonic stage of development is of incalculable value to his or her family, and though young, is not of any less worth to their parents than a child at three months in the womb, nine months in the womb, or after the very moment of birth. Both science and logic have made it clear that embryos must be accorded the same human rights and level of dignity that all other human beings — at every developmental stage of life — are granted.
Signers included the leaders of CatholicVote, Live Action, and Students for Life Action.
Aside from destroying human life and separating sexuality from procreation, IVF can lead to eugenics, as some couples, single parents, or other individuals who buy sperm or eggs choose to abort embryos based on the possibility of future physical or mental disabilities.
The Catholic Church, in accordance with the natural law, teaches that IVF is gravely immoral because it disassociates the sexual act from the procreative act and violates the right of children to be born of a conjugal union.
Pray for an end to IVF and the protection of human embryos: Join our prayer pledge