The White House took a potshot at House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Thursday, after he laid out a discerning argument to weigh religious beliefs surrounding in vitro fertilization (IVF), calling it a "really important question to wrestle with."
Johnson made his comments in an interview with CBS on Thursday. Johnson, a devout Christian who co-sponsored the Life at Conception Act in 2023, was asked if destroying embryos was tantamount to murder.
"It's something that we've got to grapple with," Johnson said on "CBS Mornings."
"We need to look at the ethics surrounding that issue, but it's an important one," Johnson said when pressed. "If you do believe that life begins at conception, it's a really important question to wrestle with."
The White House took full advantage of what it saw as a political opportunity, previewing a part of President Joe Biden's State of the Union speech later Thursday.
"Tonight President Biden will stress to the country whose side he's on, and congressional Republicans are already helping him make that case. Speaker Johnson just said on live TV that we have to 'grapple with' the idea that IVF is murder," White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said.
In the interview, Johnson reaffirmed his stance on the "sanctity of life" while also supporting IVF. The Alabama Supreme Court ruled last month that frozen embryos are children, unleashing chaos in the state and sparking massive debate across the country. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a law on Wednesday shielding IVF providers from legal liability.
Johnson told CBS that Congress the issue is "not one Congress has dealt with and it won't be," adding that it's a states issue.
"I think policymakers have to determine how to handle that. We need to look at the ethics surrounding that issue, but it's an important one," Johnson said. I think it's a states issue, and states will have to be handling it."
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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