by Nicholas Ballasy
The GOP-led House Rules Committee rejected an amendment by Rep. Matt Rosendale, a Republican, that would have sought to exclude taxpayer-funded in vitro fertilization for Pentagon personnel from the chamber’s proposed defense spending bill.
The Montana congressman’s amendment was among 193 proposed to the bill.
IVF, low for in vitro fertilization, helps women who have trouble getting pregnant. The process involves fertilizing a woman’s egg or eggs with sperm in a laboratory vessel.
Ethical concerns about in vitro fertilization were reflected in February when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos resulting from such treatment should be considered children.
“While I sympathize with couples who are unable to have children, the practice of in vitro fertilization is morally wrong and I do not support any legislation that condones its use,” Rosendale said of his now defeated amendment.
The text of the amendment reads: “Financing of assisted reproductive technologies, which include any infertility treatment method or technology, including in vitro fertilization, intended to protect human life, is prohibited.”
After the Alabama court’s ruling, GOP Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill aimed at protecting IVF patients and providers from legal liability. And suppliers in the state some services have since resumed.
Rosendale also said: “My amendment will defund this practice that is responsible for destroying the lives of hundreds of thousands of children every year. If you oppose abortion, you should oppose the practice of in vitro fertilization, which destroys twice as many lives annually as Planned Parenthood.”
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Nicholas Ballasy is a reporter for Just the News.
Photo “Medical Laboratory” by Edward Jenner.
