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As Missouri House Republicans Vote Down IVF Protections, GOP Gov. Candidates Stay Silent

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As Missouri House Republicans Vote Down IVF Protections, GOP Gov. Candidates Stay Silent

Late last night, nearly every Republican present in the Missouri state House voted against a budget amendment that would have protected Missourians’ access to IVF and contraception. Republican candidates for governor – Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, state Senator Bill Eigel, and Lieutenant Governor Mike Kehoe – have all stayed silent while their colleagues undermine access to IVF treatment which could threaten Missouri families’ ability to have children.

The GOP candidates for governor all have harmful track records on reproductive rights, including their support for the state’s current ban that does not allow for exceptions for rape and incest and have all been previously endorsed by Missouri Right to Life, a far-right anti-abortion extremist group that firmly believes that life begins at conception.

The Missouri Republican Party’s 2024 platform, which these candidates are running to implement as the top statewide official, states that “life begins at conception,” specifically calling for “the protection of the lives of In Vitro Fertilized embryos and all other human embryos from the beginning of biological development.”

After the Alabama Supreme Court decision against IVF sent shockwaves across the nation, Bill Eigel claimed “I have said this my entire life, that life begins at conception,” a direct attack against the use of IVF. All three candidates would put access to IVF at risk.

“We already know that every Republican running for governor in Missouri is determined to further limit access to reproductive health care, but now they are putting access to IVF – the ability for some Missourians to even start a family – at risk,” said DGA States Press Secretary Emma O’Brien. “Where are Jay Ashcroft, Mike Kehoe, and Bill Eigel while their party attacks IVF? Their silence on this issue makes it clear they cannot be trusted with Missourians’ reproductive rights or to be the state’s next governor.”

 

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