Gov. Bill Lee should veto a bill backed by the abortion lobby to create a ‘right’ to embryo-destroying IVF and abortifacient contraception, 11 pro-life Republican lawmakers said.
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(LifeSiteNews) -- Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee should veto a "Trojan horse" bill backed by the ACLU that declares a "right" to contraception and embryo-destroying in vitro fertilization (IVF), 11 Republican lawmakers warned.
Senate Bill 449 and its House companion passed both chambers several weeks ago, as previously reported by LifeSiteNews. "Notwithstanding another law, an individual has a right to engage in activities associated with fertility treatment and contraception," the law states in part.
Rep. Chris Todd and 10 of his colleagues urged the governor to veto the bill, saying it "is a Trojan horse that could potentially undermine Tennessee's strong and righteous stance on the protection of innocent human life."
They noted that left-wing, pro-abortion groups, including the ACLU, back the legislation. The pro-abortion "Tennessee Freedom Circle" specifically pushed for the bill, as reported by Axios. Tracey George, the vice chair of the board, previously chaired Planned Parenthood of Middle and East Tennessee.
The bill "could potentially open Pandora's box as pro-choice activists seek to stretch the inch provided by this bill into the proverbial mile," the letter states.
The letter also raised the issue of the rights of unborn children destroyed through IVF. "We would submit that conception begins at the moment of fertilization, and thus, destroying these babies that are no longer needed or wanted is a type of abortion," they wrote.
The pro-life lawmakers also said that their Republican peers who supported the bill are likely confused about what it means.
"We are convinced that a number of our colleagues would have voted differently had all aspects of these complex and confusing issues been thoroughly and openly discussed," they wrote. "The fact that legislators did not individually investigate the implications of this bill more fully is something that we all have to own."Several Republican legislators pushed the bill through, touting the so-called benefits of hormonal, abortifacient birth control as well as embryo-destroying IVF.
“This bill is about life,” Rep. Iris Rudder said. “It brings life into the world. It gives families the right to access IVF. It gives families the opportunity to plan their families through contraceptives."
Rudder's argument ignores that every cycle of IVF may intentionally kill five or more human embryos – unborn children – and that contraception is inherently anti-life because its entire purpose is to stop the creation of new life.
The ACLU supported the bill, urging its members to share their support.
Republican politicians have elsewhere sought to establish a "right" to embryo-destroying IVF in the past several years.
After the Alabama Supreme Court's decision in 2024 that affirmed that human embryos are deserving of protection even when frozen in a "fertility clinic," Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Katie Britt of Alabama rushed to declare their support for the procedures.
They introduced legislation, to no avail, that would punish states by stripping them of Medicaid insurance dollars if they did not allow unfettered access to the procedures.
“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 said in May 2024.
Similarly, President Donald Trump has called himself the "father of IVF" and ordered his aides to find a way to expand access to the practice.
A brief executive order directs the president’s staff to create “a list of policy recommendations on protecting IVF access and aggressively reducing out-of-pocket and health plan costs for IVF” procedures.
“Fertilization, I’ve been saying, that we’re going to do what we have to do, and I think the women, and families, husbands, are very appreciative of it,” Trump said during a press conference in February.
“President Trump definitely needs to be informed of the dark truth about IVF. Every child who survives represents many who died. IVF (is) anti-life, it is yet another attempt to play (G)od,” Bishop Joseph Strickland said in response.
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