IVF gave me my family

...and Republicans want to shut it down. {NAME},  January 21, 2016.  This is a date etched in my heart as one of profound joy and gratitude – the day my wife brought our precious twins into the world, a miracle beyond our wildest dreams. Yet, the journey to that moment was fraught with uncertainty and pain.  In the midst of my career at Time Warner Cable, a visit to a urology clinic shattered our hopes of conceiving naturally. The news of infertility hit us like a wrecking ball, and we were devastated.  Then our doctor suggested the possibility of in vitro fertilization. Encouraged by a colleague’s success with IVF, my wife and I embarked on a journey of faith and science.  We were living in North Carolina at the time, and the North Carolina Center for Reproductive Medicine became our sanctuary. With help from my employer's IVF fund, we dared to dream again. Two rounds of IVF, countless tests, and agonizing waits.  When we learned the first round of embryos were not viable, it cut deep — a pain akin to losing a part of ourselves. So as the GOP targets Americans’ rights to access IVF, I can well imagine the pain and fear those attacks are causing for families relying on IVF to have children.  Two months ago, Alabama’s state supreme court issued a ruling that effectively shut down IVF in the state, threatening doctors, nurses, and medical technicians with potential prison time for disposing of non-viable embryos.  After nationwide backlash, the Alabama legislature swiftly passed a law granting prosecutorial immunity to healthcare providers working in IVF — but the fight to protect Americans’ access to IVF is not over.  Nearly 130 Republicans in Congress – including my opponent, Rick Crawford – have cosponsored the Life at Conception Act. This bill contains the same language as the over-reaching Alabama court ruling, and it offers no protections for IVF.  If this bill had been law in 2016, our dreams of parenthood may have been permanently shattered. [A collage of five photos of Rodney Govens and his family. From left to right, top to bottom: 1) Rodney holding his infant daughter up to his face, touching noses, eyes closed. 2) Rodney holding both twins as toddlers on his lap, seated in an armchair, making an amusing face. 3) Rodney and his wife and two children posing for a fall portrait on a bale of hay. 4) Another fall portrait photo with the four of them. 5) Rodney cradling his infant son in his arms.]( IVF is not easy, and it’s not the right solution for everyone. But these decisions — healthcare decisions, parenting decisions, reproductive medicine decisions — are not the government’s to make.  I’m running for Congress to fight for your right to make your own healthcare and reproductive medicine decisions. My opponent is a far-right extremist who supports a national abortion ban and would criminalize the technology that made my family possible.  [Please consider a donation to our campaign today. Together we can flip AR-01 and send a clear message that family planning is for families — not politicians.]( [Donate to Rodney]( For Zoey and Grayson, we endured it all. They are the living embodiment of our hope, our love, our resilience. To criminalize the very science that gifted us our children is to deny countless couples the chance to experience the miracle of parenthood.  Thank you,  Rodney Govens Democratic nominee for U.S. House of Representatives, AR-01   P.S. If you’re ready to help flip the 1st with Rodney, [sign up to volunteer here](. [Support Vortex today >>](      Vortex PAC is a new grassroots movement to transform Arkansas politics away from the far-right. We are recruiting, training, and supporting Democratic candidates to flip all four of Arkansas’ U.S. congressional districts and help win back the House majority in 2024. [DONATE >>](   You can follow Vortex PAC on social media using the links below:  [Facebook]( | [X]( | [Instagram]( | [TikTok](   Paid for by Vortex PAC  ©2024 Vortex PAC, all rights reserved  Our mailing address is: Vortex PAC PO Box 1141 Springdale, AR 72765 We're sad to see you go, but if you believe you received this email in error, or you no longer wish to receive our emails you can unsubscribe using the link below: [Click here to unsubscribe.]( Sent via [ActionNetwork.org](. To update your email address, change your name or address, or to stop receiving emails from Vortex PAC, please [click here](.