Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) said the decision by some Republicans to support in vitro fertilization does not undermine the Democratic Party’s messaging on protecting IVF.
The Alabama Supreme Court recently issued a decision that declared cryogenically frozen embryos are “extrauterine children,” with the decision potentially making access to IVF more difficult. It comes as Democrats have focused on abortion rights in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in June 2022, which has been a winning stance for the party in elections held in 2022 and 2023.
“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 on Sunday. “And so this Alabama Supreme Court ruling is a national extension of that, and that‘s exactly why even in a state like Michigan, where we‘ve made huge strides in protecting the right to reproductive freedom, is still very much at risk with a prospect of a second Trump term.”
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In the wake of the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision, both former President Donald Trump and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, the two remaining Republican presidential candidates in the party’s 2024 primary, have come out in defense of IVF. When asked if Republicans such as Trump and Haley taking this stance on IVF affects Democrats’ messaging on abortion, Whitmer stated: “Hell no, it does not.”
Whitmer was also asked about her own thoughts on IVF and if embryos count as human beings. In response, she said she believes the government should “get out of people‘s individual personal healthcare decisions.”
The Michigan governor, who is also the co-chair of President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, discussed the presidential election, where she reiterated her support for Biden. She added that any voter who votes for a candidate that is not Biden is actually helping Trump, which includes Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a former Democratic presidential candidate who switched to run as an independent.
“I just want to make the case, though, that it’s important not to lose sight of the fact that any vote that‘s not cast for Joe Biden supports a second Trump term,” Whitmer said. “A second Trump term would be devastating, not just on fundamental rights, not just on our democracy here at home, but also when it comes to foreign policy.”
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Whitmer’s concern about Trump winning the 2024 presidential candidate comes as he still has yet to win the Republican Party’s 2024 primary race. However, he has consistently been in the lead in both polls and primary elections, including winning Saturday’s South Carolina primary against Haley, who previously was governor of the state.
The next primary for both the Republican and Democratic Parties will be held on Tuesday in Michigan, one of several states thought to be key to November’s general election.
