IVF wars continue in race between Rick Scott, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell

Alabama's IVF ban gets a chilly reception in Florida.

Reproductive rights continue to be a potent part of the Rick Scott re-election campaign, as a new bill and a sharp rejoinder from his likely General Election opponent show.

The Naples Republican and U.S. Rep. Kat Cammack rolled out the Increasing Value for Families (IVF) with HSAs Act.

Scott’s Office says the plan is designed to “help individuals and families better plan and pay for medical expenses, like in vitro fertilization (IVF), by decoupling Health Savings Accounts (HSA) from high-deductible health plans, and doubling the current contribution limits on HSAs from $4,300 to $8,600 for individuals and $8,550 to $17,100 for families.”

“IVF is a wonderful thing that enables so many Americans to start and grow their families,” Scott said. “For me and my family, the blessing of IVF is personal, as my youngest daughter is currently undergoing IVF treatments to grow her family. While IVF is a blessing that is widely available and overwhelmingly supported, its high cost remains a barrier for many families and that’s something that ought to change.”

He described his plan as benefiting “current and aspiring parents looking at IVF as a way to grow their family.”

“This bill is commonsense and what American families expect out of Washington — solutions that make their lives easier and dreams possible. I urge all of our colleagues to join us in fighting to quickly pass this bill, help families plan for medical expenses, and hopefully expand their families and bring more beautiful children into the world.”

Meanwhile, the campaign of Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell pans Scott’s bill as a distraction from his real record, which includes spending “millions of dollars to lie to Florida voters about his anti-IVF record and cover up his recent vote against bipartisan legislation to protect access to IVF treatment.”

“How very fitting that the thief who defrauded Medicare by $1.7 billion, refused to expand Medicaid, and has repeatedly called to eliminate the Affordable Care Act is suddenly pretending to care about Floridians’ access to IVF and affordable health care,” Mucarsel-Powell said.

“If Rick Scott truly wanted to protect access to IVF, he would have backed the Right to IVF bill last month when he had the chance. But Floridians won’t forget that Rick Scott has always stood with extremists who want to ban IVF, and he has repeatedly embraced Florida’s extreme abortion ban.”

Scott and other Senate Republicans have said such messaging is part of “a Summer of Scare Tactics — a partisan campaign of false fearmongering intended to mislead and confuse the American people.”

“In vitro fertilization is legal and available in every state across our nation. We strongly support continued nationwide access to IVF, which has allowed millions of aspiring parents to start and grow their families,” they claimed in a statement earlier this year.