Texas Republicans Take A New Hard Line Against IVF

At their party’s convention this month, Texas Republicans passed a platform that includes a call to ban IVF and commercial surrogacy in the state. While these measures do not carry the force of law, they could indicate policies that the party’s candidates will ultimately be supporting.

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a medical procedure that helps a person or couple struggling with infertility to have a child. According to the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, over 100,000 babies were born through IVF in the United States in 2024, the last year for collected data.

In 2024, several leading fertility clinics and hospitals in Alabama were forced to stop treatment for their IVF patients after a ruling from the state Supreme Court. That decision prompted many prominent Republicans, including Governor Greg Abbott, to say they supported IVF. Abbott, however, did not offer any specific call to protect IVF in Texas.

For Dr. Bhavik Kumar, the co-chair of the Committee to Protect Health Care’s National Reproductive Freedom Taskforce, the Texas GOP’s party platform additions should be seen as a predictive move. “While it’s a party position for now, it is something that signals to lawmakers to move in that direction and to explicitly ban IVF status.” However, Dr. Kumar also stresses that such an action would take time, and that IVF is currently available to Texans.

Two years ago, when Texas Republicans were crafting their party’s platform, a plank restricting IVF was narrowly voted down. Now, it’s a different story. In a statement to the Texas Tribune, Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is running for Senate, distanced himself from the platform and said he did support IVF.

In the last legislative session, a bill to protect IVF was filed by State Rep. Vicki Goodwin. It did not make it out of committee.

The next legislative session in Texas begins next January, and Dr. Kumar flags that it’s possible to see drastic changes in laws around reproductive health care, even where they seem to be settled. “When we think back five years ago, certainly we thought they’re not going to overturn Roe v. Wade because it’s been the law of the land for so long.”