(Washington) Against abortion, but for in vitro fertilization: Donald Trump and the Republicans are walking on a ridge these days, worried about the consequences on the presidential election of a legal decision equating frozen embryos to children.
This ruling, rendered last Friday by the Supreme Court of Alabama, led at least three clinics in this southern American state to suspend their in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures, for fear of legal action.
But the affair, directly linked to the debate on abortion, quickly rose to the top of the electoral campaign and even led adversaries Joe Biden and Donald Trump to share – a rare occurrence – the same opinion: we must defend access to in vitro fertilization.
If the position does not represent anything very new for the Democrats, it illustrates a certain unease within the conservative camp, which continues to call itself resolutely “pro-life”, because it is a form of contradiction.
“Precious Babies”
Conservative justices on the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that an 1872 law governing wrongful deaths of minors was applicable to a complaint by couples who had their frozen embryos destroyed.
“This applies to all children, born or unborn,” writes Judge Jay Mitchell in the text of the decision, peppered with biblical references.
But the direct consequence of this decision – the suspension of IVF by clinics in Alabama – itself displeases the conservative camp: it directly contradicts its defense of traditional family values.
The state prosecutor’s teams wanted to reassure, Friday, in a press release: it “has no intention” of using this court decision “to prosecute” those who would use IVF or the professionals involved.
But the doubt is there, and the right is working to show its support for this procedure.
“Like the overwhelming majority of Americans, including the vast majority of Republicans […]I strongly support access to IVF for couples trying to have a precious baby,” Donald Trump, ultra-favorite to win his party’s nomination for the presidential election, declared Friday on his Truth Social network. november.
“Under my leadership, the Republican Party will always support the creation of strong American families,” wrote the former businessman with immense influence on his camp.
” It’s too late ”
A “clever and predictable positioning from a former president who helped dynamite Roe v. Wade (the 1973 ruling enshrining the right to abortion) and who now has his sights set on an election for which this will be detrimental to him,” a former Barack Obama strategist, David Axelrod, analyzed on X.
Since the resounding decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, with a conservative majority because it was largely reworked by Donald Trump, reversing the constitutional guarantee of abortion, the question of abortion has, in fact, become a losing machine for the Republicans.
In each local referendum addressing the question of abortion since the June 2022 ruling, conservatives have lost, even in states that are usually theirs, such as Ohio or Kansas.
And, smelling the right electoral vein, the Democrats are moving on the subject.
On Thursday, President Joe Biden called Alabama’s decision “scandalous.”
If Republicans “think they’re going to be able to escape” from Alabama’s decision, “they’re wrong, it’s too late,” Democratic Governor of Minnesota Tim Walz told reporters.
In the meantime, Donald Trump and Republicans are calling for Alabama elected officials to resolve the legal loophole and “quickly find a solution to maintain the availability of IVF” in the state.
They are already at work. A local senator and his colleagues are “working on a solution to make sure we protect these families and life itself,” Republican Gov. Kay Ivey said.
“The Republican Party must always place itself on the side of the miracle of life,” Donald Trump said Friday evening during a meeting in Rock Hill, South Carolina.