PA Republican: GOP’s pivot to supporting IVF is to distract from their abortion position

A Pennsylvania Republican member of Congress said his party has pivoted to talking about in vitro fertilization instead of abortion because the GOP’s position on abortion is not popular and could hurt them in elections.

Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) made the comment in an interview with the publication NOTUS for a story about why Republicans are suddenly saying they support in vitro fertilization.

“It’s not about being sincere on it,” Kelly said. “It’s about making statements ahead of time, and then afterwards, you do what you want.”

Kelly, who in 2023 introduced a bill to ban abortion nationwide at around six weeks’ gestation, added that Republicans are not talking about their position on abortion “because of the way people think today,” adding that he is “amazed at how, as a culture, we’ve changed.”

A Pew Research Center poll from May found that 63% of Americans believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases. 

Former President Donald Trump, who appointed three of the six Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed states to decide the question of the legality of abortion, has defended his position on abortion by falsely saying that “everybody” wanted Roe overturned. He has said he believes abortion rights should be decided in the states, 22 of which have banned the procedure before fetal viability, which is considered to be around 24 weeks’ gestation.

Like Trump, Pennsylvania Republican Senate Candidate Dave McCormick says he believes abortion should be left to the states, and believes in exceptions to abortion bans “in the cases of rape, incest, and saving the life of the mother.” That’s a change from McCormick’s failed 2022 bid for Senate, when he said that he is “staunchly pro-life and believes that life begins at conception,” and touted his presence at the anti-abortion March for Life rally in Washington, D.C.

Polling shows Trump and McCormick’s positions are broadly unpopular.

A KFF survey conducted in late August and early September found that 61% of Americans support a federal law that would make abortion legal nationwide before fetal viability, essentially restoring abortion rights as protected under Roe v. Wade. 

By a margin of 53% to 34%, Americans trust Vice President Kamala Harris over Trump to handle reproductive rights, the KFF poll found.

In August, as Harris’ campaign was hammering Trump on the issue of abortion rights, Trump tried to change the discussion by saying that he supports IVF and that if elected he would make the government or private insurance companies pay for IVF treatments, which can cost as much as $30,000 per cycle of treatment, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services. 

However, on Sept. 17, Senate Republicans blocked a bill introduced by Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) that would have protected the right to IVF nationwide and required insurance companies to cover IVF services. 

“Senate Republicans have spent months tying themselves into knots claiming that of course they are in favor of protecting IVF. But when it mattered most – when it came time to actually vote – Republicans showed their true colors and voted no,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in a speech on the Senate floor after Republicans blocked the IVF bill. “And what made yesterday’s vote even worse was that was the second time they’ve blocked IVF protections, even though it’s increasingly clear many Americans are worried about access.”