Lake has claimed to support IVF, but she has said she opposes protections at the federal level, giving each individual state authority over families’ access to IVF.
Ruben Gallego, Democratic candidate for US Senate in Arizona, called out his Republican opponent, Kari Lake, during a recent press call, highlighting her lack of full support for federal-level in vitro fertilization (IVF) protections.
Lake, a former TV news anchor, who supports banning abortion and believes that life begins at conception, when an egg is fertilized, says that she opposes restrictions to IVF treatment—but she also opposes protections at the federal level, saying it should be left to individual states.
“Kari Lake went to Capitol Hill and stood on the steps and said she does not support a federal protection for IVF, so it’s great to say you are for something locally, but when you’re running for US Senate, you have to think about a lot of people nationally,” Gallego said in a media call.
In a statement ahead of the media call, the Lake campaign said she “will do everything in her power to make it easier to raise a family and support women struggling with fertility issues” and linked to a Twitter/X thread highlighting Lake’s abortion stance.
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Lake’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment from The Copper Courier.
Lake’s stance on abortion has consistently changed as she has run for various public offices. While running for governor, she supported a total abortion ban and called Arizona’s 1864-era abortion ban a “great law.” That law has since been repealed, and in her run for US Senate, Lake has praised the state’s current 15-week ban.
The future of IVF access was cast into doubt earlier this year, after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos created through IVF should have the same rights as children. The court’s ruling prompted fears among IVF providers that they could be prosecuted for wrongful death when embryo transfers fail or when unused embryos are discarded.
While additional legislation was passed to protect Alabama IVF clinics and patients from criminal charges in these cases, the initial ruling raised concerns about how anti-abortion groups might start to take aim at the fertility industry.
IVF cannot be safe without also having access to abortion, Gallego said on the press call.
This is especially dangerous in states like Arizona, Gallego said, where lawmakers have consistently weakened women’s rights to make their own health care choices.
Scottsdale Mayor Sam Campana, a Republican who has two grandsons who were born with the help of IVF, echoed this sentiment, and said there is a very real threat that Arizona could restrict or even ban access to IVF.
“She’s [Lake] siding with political extremism over the freedom of families to make their own family planning decisions,” Campana said.
Gallego emphasized how personal the topic of IVF is to him and his wife — the couple nearly started IVF before they had their daughter.
“I understand a bit of the pain, frustration, and sadness that comes with the struggles trying to grow your family, and I can’t imagine facing these struggles and not having an option like IVF available,” Gallego said.
“If you are an Arizona voter, and you are still deciding who to vote for on this issue, the difference between Kari Lake and I could not be clearer, I trust women to make their own health care decisions, I trust families to make their own health care decisions, and it doesn’t matter what state you’re in, you should be able to make those health care decisions,” he added.
National Republicans block IVF protections
In September, Senate Republicans voted almost unanimously against Senator Tammy Duckworth’s (D-Illinois) legislation to ensure a nationwide right to IVF treatments.
“Despite so many Republicans rushing to claim that they support IVF, they refused to back it up with action when they had the chance,” Duckworth said on the call.
It was the second time Duckworth’s Right to IVF Act was blocked by Republicans.
If Lake was in the Senate, she would have voted alongside the rest of the Republican party to block this legislation, Duckworth said.
“What we need are reproductive rights champions, people who understand that how we start a family and when we start a family is simply none of the government’s business, and that is why it is so important that we elect my friend Ruben Gallego to the Senate,” Duckworth said.
Restricting access to IVF is not just theoretical—families had their IVF treatment interrupted after the Alabama State Supreme Court ruling, Duckworth said.
“We don’t want politicians like Kari Lake making decisions in our doctor’s offices, and we certainly don’t want politicians like her making decisions for our families,” Campana added.
Ellie Pérez, political director of the Arizona Education Association, who had her daughter with the help of IVF after being diagnosed with endometriosis and struggling to get pregnant, also expressed her support for Gallego.
“He has not only fought for our country, but he fights for the rights of women to be able to have our families and expand our families when we want and how we want,” Perez said.
Gallego has voted to protect reproductive rights and has made protecting the right to an abortion one of the main issues of his campaign.
“I trust women to make their own health care decisions, I trust families to make their own health care decisions,” Gallego said.
Service members can be stationed wherever the military places them, and their family’s access to IVF treatment can change depending on the state they end up in, Gallego said. That’s why a national protection for IVF that allows service members to plan for their families is crucial, he added.
“She will do anything, she will say anything, to gain power, even if it hurts Arizona women and families,” Gallego said of Lake.
