Embryologist Ric Ross holds a dish with human embryos at the La Jolla IVF Clinic February 28, 2007 in La Jolla, California. Caroleene Dobson, the Republican nominee for Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District, said Friday she supports a bill sponsored by U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Alabama that would deny Medicaid funding to states that deny access to IVF. (Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)
Republican congressional candidate Caroleene Dobson said Friday that she supported a bill sponsored by U.S. Sen Katie Britt, R-Alabama, that would deny Medicaid funding to states that banned in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment.
Speaking inside Born Children’s Boutique, a children’s store in Montgomery, Dobson, running in the newly drawn 2nd Congressional District, said that many children in Alabama are born with the help of fertility treatments.
“I hope I have the opportunity to represent this district, but I knew that what I could do right now, even just as a candidate, was do everything that I could to increase awareness about IVF, increase awareness about the fertility treatments that so many women and families in this state utilized to grow their families,” she said.
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Dobson’s Democratic opponent, Shomari Figures, held an event Thursday in front of a giant inflatable IUD, where he pledged to codify federal abortion rights, protect contraceptive access and reduce maternal mortality.
A message was left with the Figures campaign on Friday.
Alabama passed an effective ban on abortion in 2019 that went into effect in 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down federal abortion rights protections in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Dobson said Friday that she supports abortion exceptions for rape, life of mother and incest but thinks the issue should be left to the states.
“I think state legislatures are in the best position to address the issue of abortion with not only consensus, but with also compassion and common sense,” she said.
The Alabama Supreme Court earlier this year ruled that frozen embryos accidentally destroyed at a Mobile clinic in 2020 were children, and that the parents of the embryos could sue to collect civil damages under an 1872 state law. Several clinics in the state said they would shut down in the wake of the decision. The Alabama Legislature passed a law within weeks protecting the clinics from civil and criminal liability.
Britt’s proposal, co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, would have made access to IVF services a requirement for a state to receive Medicaid funding. Medicaid covers about 20% of Alabama’s population — mostly children, the elderly and those with disabilities — and is critical for the operation of hospitals and other health care providers in the state.
Senate Democrats blocked the bill, saying it did not prevent states from imposing burdensome regulations on IVF. A Democratic bill that would have made IVF access a right and banned state and federal governments from “enacting harmful or unwarranted limitations or requirements” was later blocked by Senate Republicans, who claimed the bill was too broad or went too far.
Dobson said she believed the Alabama’s Legislature’s actions this spring showed the state to be a state in favor of IVF, and expressed support for Britt’s bill.
“I would like to introduce similar legislation in the House to ensure that there’s never any question about IVF access,” she said.
Ansley Apperson, who knew Dobson in high school, was in attendance with her daughter who was conceived through IVF.
Anne Tyler Crider, who spoke at the event, said she was still in her IVF journey.
“This is thousands and thousandsof dollars that could have just gone down the drain, not to mention the emotional side of it,” she said. “So, I was just feeling for those families that had to press pause.”
Stephanie Moseley, owner of the store and generally a Republican voter, said that she disagreed with Democrats that Republicans were an anti-IVF party.
“Just shut it down and just her getting out there, letting people know that’s not the truth,” she said. “Like we’re not against all that. That’s what I love about the event today, just letting people be aware of what she really stands for.”
A federal court last year approved a new state congressional map that redrew the boundaries of the 2nd Congressional District to give Black voters an opportunity to elect their preferred leaders.
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This story was updated at 2:08 to clarify which exceptions Dobson personally believes in.