“Look Me In The Eye” features Jessica—a Missouri mother whose family was made possible by IVF—holding Josh Hawley accountable for pioneering legal arguments being used to shut down and threaten IVF nationwide, for refusing to protect IVF, and for his out-of-touch and controlling beliefs and politics that put her and all Missouri women at risk.
Independence, MO — Today, Lucas Kunce is releasing Look Me In The Eye, the first Senate campaign ad this cycle that centers on access to in vitro fertilization (IVF). The ad comes just days after Marilyn Lands flipped a seat in deep-red Alabama by 25 percentage points after running on abortion and IVF, and after Erin Hawley, Josh Hawley’s wife and closest political partner, argued to the Supreme Court that Mifepristone should be banned and that “her clients don’t merely oppose terminating a pregnancy—they are pursuing the right to turn away a patient whose pregnancy has already been terminated.”
Watch it here on Twitter, or here on YouTube.
The ad will go up next week in the Kansas City and St. Louis media markets on shows like “Grey’s Anatomy,” “The Masked Singer,” and “The Real Housewives of Potomac.” The ad will also be up on digital.
“Data in Missouri is consistent and compelling that this is a state where voters place a premium on control being wrestled away from politicians’ hands and back into the hands of people,” said Elizabeth Sena, senior partner for 100% woman-owned GQR Research. “Taking away IVF and Josh Hawley’s involvement is an issue that is moving voters already. This opening salvo makes clear not only the stakes of this race but the kind of powerful campaign Lucas Kunce is going to wage.”
Hawley Refuses To Protect IVF Access, Despite Threats To Access In Missouri. He’s Pioneered The Extremist Arguments Against Reproductive Healthcare Being Used In Efforts To Criminalize IVF, Abortion, Mifepristone, And Contraceptives.
Josh Hawley “proudly” recommended and confirmed Anti-IVF Judge To Court —Josh Hawley Tweet, Dec 4, 2019; Washington Post, Dec 4, 2019
Josh Hawley refused to back Senator Tammy Duckworth’s efforts in the U.S. Senate to protect IVF, even falsely claiming those efforts “are about abortion, not IVF” (they aren’t).
See Hawley Say It On Video Here.
Hawley is lying about IVF, or he doesn’t know what IVF is. Either way, here’s what he thinks about IVF based on his comments about Senator Duckworth’s bill:
Josh Hawley: “Abortion is not a right. It is a violent act against the defenseless. It violates every principle of morality and should be barred by American law. I am 100 percent pro-life and have been my whole life. That means I am opposed to abortion at any stage of pregnancy, and I am opposed to embryonic stem-cell research.” —Jezebel
Josh Hawley: “I would support any restriction on abortion” —Interview with LifeSiteNews
“Hawley has not been shy about his support for a potential federal ban…Hawley was one of just nine senators who signed onto” a federal abortion ban. —KC Star, April 20, 2023
“Josh Hawley’s anti-abortion arguments echoed in Alabama IVF case”
Hawley on contraceptives in op-ed: “May induce an abortion by preventing implantation of a fertilized egg” — “the same logic accepted by justices…that led to shutdowns of IVF.” Hawley “argued that private companies should not be required to cover birth control methods that were ‘more like abortifacients’ because, they alleged, the contraception prevented an embryo from implanting in the uterus wall.” —The Guardian, Feb 23, 2024
Hawley closest allies celebrated the anti-IVF court ruling as a “victory for life” —Alliance Defending Freedom Statement, March 4, 2024
More On Threats To IVF In Missouri
“Missouri law states that birth begins at conception… the state’s highest court has not clearly defined where IVF falls…” Republican who filed IVF legislation in response to AL ruling: “I have a daughter that needs fertility assistance and it means a lot to her. It means a lot to her to be able to start a family and I could only imagine how the families across Missouri must feel.” Even Republican state legislators agree about the need for new laws to protect IVF —Fox2Now
Michael Wolff, a former Missouri Supreme Court chief justice: “The Alabama decision, I think, was kind of a wake-up call for the need for this kind of protection.” —The Kansas City Star
Missouri Politicians have filed legislation by long-time Hawley allies in the 2024 current legislative session to apply murder charges to women “from the moment of fertilization until birth.”