GOP’s Rosendale hangs anti-IVF posters outside office

Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) has hung posters outside his office in opposition to in vitro fertilization (IVF), his latest public statement against the procedure most Republicans have rushed to express their support for.

“If you believe that life begins at conception as I do, there is no difference between an abortion and the destruction of an IVF embryo," says one poster, quoting Rosendale.

Another asserts: “IVF destroys more lives than Planned Parenthood.” Citing a post from the conservative Witherspoon Institute think tank and a Catholic News Agency article, claims there are about 700,000 “frozen, destroyed, experimented” fertilized IVF embryos annually, and cites Planned Parenthood’s 2022-23 report saying it provided 392,715 abortions.

The posters went up on Thursday morning, a spokesperson for Rosendale said. 

“My heart aches for couples who are struggling to conceive a child, but I humbly ask all of my colleagues to educate themselves on the practice of IVF and ask themselves if IVF actually aligns with their pro-life values,” Rosendale said in a statement.

The posters are not the only public statement Rosendale has made opposing IVF. Earlier in the week, he proposed an amendment to a defense spending bill to prevent any of its funds from being spent on IVF. That amendment was not made in order.

IVF became a national debate topic after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that embryos were children, threatening IVF centers that feared the repercussions from the standard process of discarding or destroying embryos. 

Since that ruling, most national Republicans have gone out of their way to express their support of IVF. Earlier this month, every Senate Republican signed a pledge saying they “strongly support” continued nationwide access to IVF, even as they blocked a Democratic bill to codify IVF access.

Rosendale is leaving office at the end of the year, opting to not run for reelection and abandoning a Senate bid amid opposition from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the GOP’s Senate campaign arm.