Rep. Marc Molinaro announced Wednesday that he was cosponsoring a bill protecting access to in vitro fertilization (IVF), becoming the first Republican to do so.
Molinaro, a vulnerable Republican seeking re-election, said in a statement that he is “a parent who has personal experience with IVF” and expressed support for “all women and families who choose IVF to bring life in to the world.”
“Protecting it is just commonsense,” he added.
The bill, called the Access to Family Building Act, is sponsored by Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa. It was introduced in the House in January, before the Alabama Supreme Court’s controversial February decision which ruled that fertilized embryos are people and threw the legality of IVF in the state into question.
The bill would “prohibit the limitation of access to assisted reproductive technology, and all medical care surrounding such technology.”
Another Republican, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, had previously been reported to have supported the bill, but said that she was “added to the bill without confirmation” and that there “are amendments that would need to take place” for her to support it.
Also in January, Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., introduced a similar resolution in the upper chamber using unanimous consent, meaning that any one member could stop it from passing. The bill was blocked by Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., who called it “a vast overreach that is full of poison pills.”
Molinaro has previously spoken out against Republican efforts on reproductive rights, opposing language in an appropriations bill that would have limited access to the abortion pill mifepristone.
Molinaro faces a tough re-election race this fall in his upstate New York district, which backed President Joe Biden in 2020 under its current congressional lines. He first won election to his current seat in 2022 by a margin of fewer than 5,000 votes.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
