MICHAEL KNOWLES (HOST): Speaking of the right to life, there is a slightly unfortunate political turn of events on the Republican side as a result of the Alabama Supreme Court rightly concluding that the Alabama state constitution prohibits not only abortion, but the buying and selling of human babies in the form of embryos, in the form of the surrogacy industry in IVF. As a result of that, some Republicans are coming out to defend IVF probably because they think that being opposed to IVF will hurt them in the 2024 election. So, Kari Lake did this and President Trump did this as well.
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I understand why people support IVF because infertility is very, very painful. For two years, sweet little Elise and I actually struggled to conceive our first child, and I speak with a little bit of experience. I understand just a little bit how extremely painful that is. I get it. And we went to a fertility specialist finally. And you know what they do, the fertility specialists? They sell you IVF. They are salesmen for IVF. And IVF and surrogacy is -- I guess it's a market for babies. You know, what you're selling is a human being, which is morally questionable in itself, to say nothing about the ways in which IVF actually is practiced with the creation of multiple human beings who are then left to just be put in a freezer indefinitely and then maybe destroyed, killed if you don't use them. And it's very morally dubious. But people don't pay attention to that. They don't pay attention to it because they're offered this extreme temptation for a very deep desire of their heart during an extremely painful period of their lives. I get it. I get why people have done it. OK?
I don't think it would be advisable for the Republican Party to come out as the party of IVF right now. And I'm not even saying that the Republican party should be running against IVF. I totally sympathize with Donald Trump's political instincts that this would be an unpopular campaign theme. Yeah. I'm not saying, you know, you run on immigration, the economy, and banning IVF everywhere. I'm not saying that that would be a politically wise idea. I guess if I were advising President Trump, what I would urge here is just caution.