The Democratic National Committee is placing in eight swing states 40 billboards that tie former President Donald Trump’s appointees to the U.S. Supreme Court to an Alabama ruling that upended in vitro fertilization there.
The billboards feature a picture of Mr. Trump and his boast that he “was able to kill Roe v. Wade,” the 1973 Supreme Court decision establishing a national right to abortion that was overturned by the conservative majority in 2022.
“Now: Alabama court ruling stops IVF,” the billboards say.
The billboards will run in English and Spanish in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Democrats were already leaning into the fight over abortion access ahead of the November election.
Now, they’re seizing on an Alabama ruling that frozen embryos created by IVF procedures are children and could trigger wrongful death laws if they are destroyed.
The decision stems from lawsuits brought by couples whose frozen embryos were destroyed in an accident.
The ruling is having a chilling effect on IVF facilities — including one in Birmingham that fears wrongful death lawsuits in cases where embryos end up destroyed.
Mr. Trump tried to distance himself from the ruling, writing on Truth Social that he supports IVF procedures and “will always support the creation of strong, thriving, healthy American families.”
Yet Democrats want to tie the former president directly to the IVF debate. They said his decision to appoint three pro-life justices to the Supreme Court resulted in the 2022 decision that gave states latitude to set their own rules on abortion and when life begins — suddenly wrapping IVF into the debate.
“Donald Trump is the reason why cruel abortion bans across the country are ripping away women’s reproductive freedom and threatening access to IVF for Americans trying to start a family,” DNC spokeswoman Rhyan Lake said. “Trump is proudly responsible for appointing the three Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade and wants to go even further by banning abortion nationwide.”