In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott voiced his support for in vitro fertilization, or IVF. The governor's support of the procedure comes a week after the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling that frozen embryos are considered children.

What You Need To Know

  • Texas Gov. Greg Abbott voiced his support for IVF in an interview with CNN

  • The interview came a week after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos fertilized through IVF are considered children. The ruling would allow parents to sue for punitive damages when their child dies

  • Abbott called IVF a “way of giving life to more babies” and said he would "do everything possible" to keep Texas a pro-life state

  • The Texas governor has long been against broadening abortion rights in Texas

Abbott echoed former President Donald Trump’s stance on the issue on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“We want to make it easier for people to be able to have babies, not … make it harder,” Abbott said.

In a post to Truth Social on Friday, Trump called on the Alabama Legislature to find a solution to "preserve the availability of IVF in Alabama."

The Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling states that embryos are children and are protected under Alabama’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. This would allow parents to sue for punitive damages when their child dies. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said Friday he has "no intention" of prosecuting IVF families or medical providers.

The ruling has since forced medical providers to pause some IVF programs and patients to seek care out of state, including in Texas.

IVF can be a solution for many who experience infertility to conceive. Mature eggs are collected and fertilized by sperm outside of the uterus in a lab. Then, the fertilized eggs, or embryos, are placed in a uterus to develop into babies. The process involves procedures that can be expensive, time-consuming and invasive, according to Mayo Clinic.

Abbott called IVF a “way of giving life to more babies.”

“What I think the goal is to make sure that we can find a pathway to ensure that parents who otherwise may not have the opportunity to have a child will be able to have access to the IVF process and become parents and give life to babies,” he said.

Texas has one of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the U.S., and Abbott has long been against broadening abortion rights in the state. Last year, the governor celebrated the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade at a rally in Austin. The rally was held on what would have been the 50th anniversary of the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling.

Access to IVF services in Texas is currently still available. When asked if he would urge the Texas Legislature to create laws that would keep IVF legal, Abbott said he would ensure Texas remains a "pro-life state."

“Texas is a pro-life state, and we want to do everything possible that we can to maintain Texas being a pro-life state. But at the very same time, I think Texans agree with what (former) President Trump said, and that is we, as a state, want to ensure that we promote life – we bring more life into the world – and we empower parents to be able to have more children,” Abbott told CNN.