Missouri Democrat Debuts Ad Linking GOP Sen. Josh Hawley To Anti-IVF Efforts

A Missouri Democrat is launching a TV ad targeting Sen. Josh Hawley and Republicans over IVF access, previewing what’s likely to become a predominant election-year attack from the left, even in red states.

Democrat Lucas Kunce, who hopes to take Hawley’s Senate seat in November, is launching a five-figure ad buy beginning Monday with a 30-second spot in which a Missouri mother describes having a baby after in vitro fertilization treatment and claims Hawley wouldn’t protect people’s right to the procedure. Hawley has previously denied taking that position.

“I just had this beautiful baby, and I held her and I just, like, knew I was meant to be her mom,” the Missouri woman, named Jessica, says. “Now there are efforts to ban IVF, and Josh Hawley got them started. Josh Hawley has proven that he won’t protect IVF and he would let politicians make me a criminal.

“I want Josh Hawley to look me in the eye and tell me that I can’t have a child that I deserve,” she says.

The spot will air during shows on network and cable TV designed to appeal to women, such as “The Masked Singer,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “The Real Housewives of Potomac,” his campaign said.

“It’s not just about access to IVF,” Kunce told HuffPost. “That’s just the current moment. Missourians want to have the ability to control their own lives. We want the resources to make our own decisions, and we want the government to get out of the way… IVF is such a great example of the extreme he’s willing to go to control other people’s lives.”

The ad cites a recent Guardian report about Hawley’s legal work for Hobby Lobby, which the Supreme Court sided with in its landmark 2014 decision that “for-profit religious corporations” shouldn’t have to provide employees with birth