White House hits Johnson for uncertainty on IVF ruling

The White House announced on Thursday that lawmakers will not be able to destroy embryos after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos are children and temporarily halted some IVF (in vitro fertilization) procedures. He criticized Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), who said the issue of whether it constitutes murder “needs to be addressed.” ) Services within the state.

in Interview with CBS Mr Johnson was asked by host Tony Dokoupil whether the destruction of embryos constituted murder. “That’s a problem we have to address,” he replied, recalling that IVF was invented in his 1970s.

The White House argued ahead of Thursday’s State of the Union address that statements like his were indicative of the differences between Republicans and President Biden.

“Tonight, President Biden is set to stress to the nation whose side he is on, but Congressional Republicans are already backing President Biden’s case. Chairman Johnson just said on live TV that IVF is murder. “We need to ‘address’ this idea,” White House press secretary Andrew Bates said.

Johnson also said in an interview that it’s up to the Legislature to decide how to reveal to medical professionals whether embryos can be disposed of.

“I think policymakers need to decide how to deal with it. We need to consider the ethics surrounding this issue, and it’s an important issue,” the chairman said. “If you believe that life begins at conception, that is a very important issue to address. It has never been addressed by Congress and never will be addressed. This is a state issue. I think the state has to deal with it.”

The White House criticized the Alabama ruling and defended the need to protect in vitro fertilization after clinics in the state closed in response to the ruling. Biden is expected to say more about protecting in vitro fertilization and other reproductive rights in his speech.

“Americans don’t want to be dragged into the past by extremism. They want to move forward,” Bates said.

Last month, the White House spotlighted a Republican bill that declared life begins at conception, calling it extreme and dangerous. Mr. Johnson is a co-sponsor of this bill.