Ted Cruz Dodges When Life Begins During IVF Interview
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Ten years ago, Texas Senator Ted Cruz stood outside of the Supreme Court in defense of Hobby Lobby and their refusal to provide birth control that could prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg. The owners of Hobby Lobby saw the requirement of such drugs as a violation of their faith because ending that life would be murder. They were willing to risk their entire company and ended up winning their case. Therefore, the Obama administration could not financially penalize them, and they were granted an exemption.
Fast-forward to today, Senator Cruz and Katie Britt have come together to introduce a bill that grants a “right” to IVF nationwide. In reality, the bill penalizes states that outlaw the practice by withholding Medicaid funding.
Hobby Lobby once had to fight a fine for refusing to create a possibility that would end the survivability of embryos. Now, Cruz and Britt are holding the healthcare of millions hostage if states conclude that the cost of IVF is too many lives of incredibly young children.
During an interview with Bloomberg, the pair was asked if embryos produced by IVF were considered life at conception, noting that would be the criticism from some on the Right. Cruz responded by dodging the question. “I believe all 100 senators support IVF. I don’t know a single senator who does not. I don’t know a single Republican who does not. I don’t know a single Democrat who does not.”
Cruz is a prominent pro-life conservative, so he knows the answer. In 2017, Senator Ted Cruz praised the Department of Health and Human Services for recognizing that life begins at conception. Pro-life activists often debate until they are blue in the face, defending the fact that the moment a sperm fertilizes an egg, a new and unique human individual comes into existence. They’ll cite embryology textbooks, a survey of 96% of biologists, and so on. The embryo is not a “potential life,” but rather a life with potential. To say otherwise is to push a belief.
The reason Cruz dodged the question and the reason the Bloomberg journalist and pro-choice advocates keep pairing IVF and abortion together, is because IVF results in the death of millions of embryos. Excess embryos are created, filtered out through genetic testing, and leftover embryos that are not implanted are frozen, discarded, or donated to science or unrelated parties. Even successful implantations may lead to multiple fetal reductions, which are abortions.
A “right” to IVF includes a right for parents to purposely create and destroy their children, eugenics, to buy and sell them, and deny children the right to have and know their biological parents. Republicans should be regulating the IVF industry, not scrambling to protect it like state legislators in Alabama after the courts ruled a clinic could be sued for the wrongful death of a minor. The clinic was supposed to secure and monitor the embryos, but a patient wandered into the storage facility and dropped embryos from three sets of parents.
That little bit of accountability sent shockwaves of panic throughout the IVF industry, prompting former President Donald Trump to urge Republicans to support IVF. Arizona Senator candidate Kari Lake even promoted “no restrictions.” Should non-related men be able to rent a womb and receive non-genetically related embryos without safeguards or background checks? The number of excess embryos doesn’t matter? If holding a fertility clinic accountable for something that was their fault brings the industry to a halt, we need to question what is wrong with it. Why can’t clinics survive if they are accountable for the lives they create?
Katie Britt was stirred to protect IVF after the ruling in Alabama. Many families reached out to her because they either had children born from IVF or they were currently going through rounds that were paused. But we need to ask if the cost is too high. According to Heritage, IVF destroys 93-97% of the lives they create. And unlike the unwanted pregnancies terminated in Planned Parenthood, IVF deliberately creates children that will be destroyed.
Britt and Cruz are attempting to steal the anti-IVF narrative away from Democrats, but this bill likely won’t do that. Democrats might not agree to it unless they have abortion protections anyway. And even if it is passed and Biden signs it, there are major pro-life influencers and organizations, such as Students for Life and Live Action, that openly condemn IVF. Abolitionist Rising heavily rebuked Cruz and Britt. “Here’s your fruit, complacent, compromising Christian…Are you paying attention now? Do you like the trajectory we’re on?”
Democrats aren’t going to give up their talking point, and Cruz and Britt didn't need to draw more attention to this issue by threatening the healthcare of millions of Americans.
If Hobby Lobby was righteous in their cause to Christian conservatives, how can they support the deliberate destruction of millions of embryos or freezing millions of children who will likely never know their mother and father?
Cruz says the abortion issue is different than IVF because there’s such a large consensus surrounding IVF, but I also doubt many—including those on the right—have stopped to consider the ethical dilemmas surrounding the practice. Ted Cruz, however, is a very smart man who likely has.
That’s why he dodged.
