New stakes in Md. Senate race following Alabama Supreme Court ruling on IVF

A recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling that equated frozen fertilized embryos to children has shaken up the national conversation around reproductive health care and abortion access, which had already gained urgency after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.

Potential impacts of that ruling could be factors in the election of Maryland’s next U.S. senator, as the top contenders vie for voters.

“The Alabama ruling underscores how high the stakes are for reproductive freedom in 2024,” said Elizabeth Schoetz, chief campaigns and advocacy officer at Reproductive Freedom for All, the national abortion rights organization formerly known as NARAL. She was speaking at a Tuesday campaign event in Silver Spring to support Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) in her bid for Senate.

“And this is really, really important. What we saw in Alabama is not an isolated incident,” she added.

Since Feb. 19 when Alabama’s high court ruled that frozen fertilized embryos created by in vitro fertilization are children, reproductive care advocates have feared the implications of the ruling for IVF treatments and other reproductive health services.

While her campaign war chest lags behind that of her principal Democratic primary opponent, U.S. David Trone, Alsobrooks’ event focused entirely on pitching her as the most reliable candidate for supporting abortion access and reproductive care, compared to Trone and the likely Republican nominee, former Gov. Larry Hogan.

The candidates are bidding to succeed U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D) following his retirement announcement.

“It’s not just that abortion’s on the ballot. It’s not just that IVF is on the ballot, it’s freedom…I feel determined about this burden, and that it will not fall on my daughter’s shoulder, as it has fallen on the shoulders of so many other women in our country,” Alsobrooks said at her event.

Also attending was Jessica Mackler, the president of EMILYs List, the political action committee focused on supporting Democratic female politicians who support abortion rights.

“David Trone, over the course of his career and his companies, have collectively contributed nearly $500,000 to candidates who are anti-choice,” Mackler said.

“His record of actively supporting the politicians who attack our reproductive rights and dismissively calling them ‘just business’ is disqualifying,” she argued.

Trone has countered that narrative by saying that his wine and beer business, not he, contributed to those politicians — though campaign finance databases show he gave money to state-level Republican candidates before his election to Congress.

Trone is also pitching himself as a pro-abortion candidate. His campaign sent out a news release Tuesday emphasizing his support for a new reproductive health clinic located in his Western Maryland district.

The release also highlighted his score on the Reproductive Freedom for All’s 2023 Congressional Scorecard, which evaluated members’ track records on key reproductive rights votes.

Trone, like the other Democratic members of Maryland’s congressional delegation, earned a score of 100 from the advocacy group.

Joe Bowen, communications director for Trone’s campaign, said that the decision to run the reproductive-care focused press release was not in response to the recent IVF ruling in Alabama.

“Abortion rights has always been central to our message as a campaign, it has always been central to David’s work in Congress,” Bowen said. “Our decision to highlight that is nothing new, and it was nowhere related to IVF. We talk about abortion all the time on this campaign.”

Hogan, a last-minute addition to Maryland’s U.S. Senate race, also mentioned his support for IVF services in an interview Thursday with Axios, calling such treatments a “wonderful thing [that] should never be limited.”

“I never really thought this was an issue until this crazy decision from Alabama,” Hogan told Axios reporter Sophia Cai.

Hogan said he was pleased to see the Alabama legislature take steps to shield IVF providers from criminal liability following the ruling.

“I thought that was an outrageous decision in Alabama…this is a wonderful opportunity for so many people that are unable to have families,” he said.

On the abortion front, Hogan said he would not vote to support a national abortion ban. But he refused to say if he would support efforts to codify federal abortion access previously granted by Roe v. Wade.

“That’s where, I think we’re going to have to take a look at that as we move forward…that wasn’t a ‘yes’ or a ‘no,'” he said, chuckling at the end of his response.

Alsobrooks shared the clip of Hogan’s response on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, rebutting with “There’s nothing funny about protecting women’s rights.”

Shortly after, she added a link urging users to donate $10 to her campaign.

Both Alsobrooks and Trone have been highly critical of Hogan on abortion, seeking to tie him to some of the GOP’s most extreme elected officials and anti-abortion rhetoric.

Abortion rights advocates have long warned that overturning abortion protections could lead to limitations on other aspects of reproductive care, such as IVF services or contraceptives.

“The Alabama ruling wasn’t a surprise to the folks who have been working intensely in the space of reproductive health,” said state Sen. Ariana B. Kelly (D-Montgomery), a leading lawmaker on abortion rights legislation in the Maryland General Assembly.

Kelly has endorsed Alsobrooks for the U.S. Senate seat and said that reproductive health care has been a factor in the race for some time.

“As far as I can tell, this has been a central issue in the U.S. Senate race even before the IVF decision,” Kelly said.

However, she said the IVF decision has “brought home” the idea to some voters that the overturning of Roe v. Wade may lead to losing protection for other types of reproductive care.

“People who maybe were skeptical when abortion rights advocates were saying ‘they’re coming next for your birth control, they’re coming for your gay rights, they’re coming next for your assistive reproductive technology.’ We had been saying that, and people had not necessarily been believing us. And now they are,” Kelly said.

“That’s got to change the electoral landscape, because there is now documented evidence that that could happen,” Kelly said.

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