Republican efforts to ban in vitro fertilization are way out of step with a major share of the U.S. population, according to new research.
Gallup’s July 30 “Update on American Values” survey found 90% of Americans consider the use of birth control as morally acceptable, while 82% agree in vitro fertilization — or IVF — is morally acceptable.
The national debate over IVF has been boiling since at least Feb. 16, when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled frozen embryos are human beings, effectively outlawing the procedure. The state’s legislature subsequently enacted a law protecting IVF patients and providers from legal liability.
But the Alabama court ruling has sparked nationwide political and religious debates pitting supporters of reproductive rights against others seeking to capitalize on the demise of Roe v. Wade in 2022.
The Guttmacher Institute reported a flurry of personhood and anti-reproductive rights bills introduced this year that threaten much more than abortion access.
“Legislators in many states demonstrated how far they are willing to go to deny people their right to reproductive care, as they sought to advance legislation that would restrict in vitro fertilization and divert increasing amounts of state funding to anti-abortion centers,” the institute said.
In June, Republicans in the U.S. Senate shot down legislation to make IVF and other fertility methods a national right.
“The anti-abortion movement is not yet finished. Now that Roe is gone, they have set their sights to a new target — in vitro fertilization,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, said.
Gallup found Americans fairly evenly divided regarding treatment of embryos.
The Christian right has gotten into the act, as well. In June, Southern Baptist Convention messengers passed a resolution condemning IVF because the process “routinely creates more embryos than can be reasonably implanted, thus resulting in the continued freezing, stockpiling and ultimate destruction of human embryos, some of which may also be subjected to medical experimentation.”
Gallup found Americans fairly evenly divided regarding treatment of embryos, with 49% saying it’s morally acceptable to destroy frozen embryos created by IVF and 43% saying it’s morally wrong.
But 63% of Americans indicated they are OK with medical research using stem cells obtained from embryos.
A slim majority of Americans — 54% — said abortion is morally acceptable, while 37 percent said it’s morally wrong.
Physician-assisted suicide received affirmation of 53% of Americans, while 40 percent called it wrong.
Gallup also surveyed sexual norms. More than two out of three Americans — 69% — consider sex between unmarried men and women to be acceptable, along with 68% who consider having a baby outside of marriage as acceptable.
Almost two-thirds of respondents, at 64%, said gay and lesbian relations are morally acceptable, while only 44% support people changing genders. Less acceptable were sex between teenagers (43%), viewing pornography (38%), polygamy (23%) and suicide (22%). Married men and women having affairs rounded out the bottom of the list, with only 11% of respondents giving affirmation, Gallup said.
One thing most Americans agree on is that the nation is in poor moral condition, the survey found.
“When asked about the overall state of moral values today, only 15% of Americans see moral values in the U.S. as ‘excellent’ or ‘good,’ while a significant 49% view the state of morality as ‘poor,’” Gallup reported.
Last year, 11% said the country’s moral condition was “excellent” or “good,” compared to 34% who said “only fair” and 49% who said “poor.”
Related articles:
Americans more pessimistic about state of our morality
Remembering the early days of controversy over IVF in America
Alabama politicians flee IVF backlash
