It’s an election-year battle that has U.S. Sen. Rick Scott touting himself in new ads as a “grandpa” who supports in vitro fertilization and Democrats traveling the state with a 20-foot-tall inflatable IUD.
In the post-Roe era, Florida voters are likely to hear a lot more about birth control and fertility treatments, the latest fronts in a fierce fight over abortion and reproductive rights.
Even anti-abortion politicians like Scott are anxious to distance themselves from the less popular stances some abortion opponents are taking, while Democrats raise the specter that IVF and contraception could indeed be targeted if Republicans win in November.
“He’s basically doing what is politically convenient for him right now and not what Floridians’ values represent,” said Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a Democrat running to unseat Scott. “He’s trying to win his reelection. He understands he is facing a real threat.”
Scott’s campaign is accusing Democrats of engaging in fear-mongering through a series of polarizing “show votes” — like recent IVF-protecting legislation in Congress that most Republicans opposed as an “unnecessary overreach” — ahead of the November election.
“Sen. Scott has been perfectly clear that he fully supports contraception and IVF and will aggressively oppose any effort to ban or limit access to either,” said Will Hampson, a campaign spokesman.
Scott supports a separate Republican-sponsored IVF protection bill that was blocked by Democrats, Hampson said.
IVF protections blocked
A day after he voted against the legislation protecting IVF, Scott unveiled an ad titled “Grandpa” proclaiming his support for the treatment. The video clip, part of a seven-figure statewide ad buy, featured Scott frolicking with his grandchildren and whimsically falling into a swimming pool fully clothed.
With those scenes as a backdrop, Scott said his youngest daughter was undergoing IVF treatments and that “sometimes families need help.”
“She and I both agree IVF must be protected for our family, for every family,” Scott said.
Mucarsel-Powell said Scott had an opportunity to do that with the Right To IVF Act, but he and all but two of his Republican colleagues voted to block it from moving forward.
The legislation would have established a federal right to access fertility treatments and make decisions on the “donation, testing, use, storage, or disposition of reproductive genetic material,” such as a frozen embryo.
Scott said he supports a bill sponsored by GOP Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Katie Britt of Alabama. Their bill would have made states that ban IVF ineligible for Medicaid funding.
Scott also joined Senate Republicans in blocking a measure called the Right to Contraception Act. Opponents said that measure, too, was a “show” vote because access to birth control is not in jeopardy.
Meanwhile, Democrats in Florida toured the state with an inflatable model of an IUD, a birth control device that is implanted in the uterus, to show support for birth control protections.
Is IVF really under threat?
The Alabama Supreme Court ruling in February that frozen embryos are children under state law put Republicans on the defensive and complicated their messaging on abortion.
Many Republicans had spent years saying that they think life begins at conception, yet IVF, which can create more embryos than a couple can use, has widespread bipartisan support.
As the court ruling halted IVF treatments in Alabama, the Senate GOP’s campaign arm urged candidates to publicly express their support of IVF and fertility-related services “as blessings for those seeking to have children.”
“When responding to the Alabama Supreme Court ruling, it is imperative that our candidates align with the public’s overwhelming support for IVF and fertility treatments,” National Republican Senatorial Committee Executive Director Jason Thielman wrote in a memo obtained by CBS News.
Facing a backlash, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed protections for IVF clinics into law in March.
Nationwide, an April survey by the Pew Research Center found overwhelming support for IVF with just 8% saying they view it as a “bad” thing.
Democratic concerns are not baseless, although the political will to ban IVF now is lacking, said Mary Ziegler, a University of California, Davis law professor who studies the legal history of reproduction.
“There are a lot of people in the anti-abortion movement who think IVF involves abortion,” she said. “Republicans can’t ignore those people because some are wealthy donors, some are base voters.”
In June, the politically powerful Southern Baptist Convention, a bastion of evangelical GOP support, adopted a resolution declaring that IVF “most often participates in the destruction of embryonic human life.” The measure called on couples “to only utilize infertility treatments and reproductive technologies in ways consistent with the dignity of the human embryo.”
On the other side of the issue are voters like Gail M. Murphy, a Brevard County mother who gave birth to one of Central Florida’s first IVF babies in 1987. Her daughter, Robin, is now 36 years old. Twin sons were born through IVF in 1991.
She said her children are thriving, and she can’t imagine how different her life would have been without IVF.
“I cannot even fathom the mindset that is trying to do away or outlaw in vitro,” Murphy said. “It just makes no sense.”
Scott’s record under fire
Scott has praised the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which established a constitutional right to an abortion. That ruling paved the way for Florida state lawmakers to pass a six-week abortion ban, which DeSantis signed into law in 2023.
“I firmly believe that life begins at conception and that every child deserves to be welcomed into this world with open and loving arms,” Scott said in a statement on the Roe v. Wade reversal.
In an April 2023 social media post, Scott wrote he would have signed the six-week abortion ban if he were governor. Earlier this year, he told The Washington Post he will vote against a November ballot initiative protecting abortion rights in Florida.
As Election Day nears, Democrats will work to remind voters of Scott’s record in hopes that they can put a dent in the GOP’s dominance in Florida, said Michael Binder, a political scientist at the University of North Florida.
Democrats will face an uphill battle, but IVF is one issue that could resonate with voters across the political spectrum, he said.
“That is a winning issue for them,” Binder said.