Vivek Ramaswamy touts endorsement of Ohio group that opposes all forms of IVF, contraception

Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican nominee for Ohio governor, has accepted the endorsement of an extreme anti-choice group whose written policy opposes abortion at any point of gestation, including in cases of rape or incest, states that the group “cannot support any form of contraception,” and opposes all forms of in vitro fertilization.

The Right to Life Action Coalition of Ohio, or RTLACO, lists Ramaswamy among its endorsed 2026 candidates, and his campaign includes the group on its own endorsements page. As reported by NBC News, the coalition says its endorsement is conditioned on a candidate being “in fundamental agreement” with its policy document.

RTLACO’s policy document lays out positions across reproductive and end-of-life issues. On abortion, it says the group “opposes abortion at any point of gestation” and “opposes abortion for pregnancy resulting from rape or incest.” On birth control, it states: “RTLACO cannot support any form of contraception,” adding that the coalition instead supports natural family planning.

The same document — the one RTLACO says its endorsed candidates must be in “fundamental agreement” with — also opposes all forms of in vitro fertilization, the fertility treatment used by many couples trying to conceive. It states:

While the Right to Life Action Coalition of Ohio empathizes with the many couples who turn to IVF as a treatment for infertility, we oppose IVF because IVF entails creating multiple embryos, resulting in selective abortions after implantation. Furthermore, cryopreservation is incompatible with the respect owed to human embryos. IVF screens human embryos for genetic disorders, handicaps, and sometimes gender. The “undesirable” embryos are often discarded and thus their dignity is reduced to that of a commodity, lacking the preservation of the dignity due to all human life. Whereas IVF is used for a surrogate pregnancy, RTLACO supports adoption and other legitimate, morally ethical, and life-affirming technologies and procedures that do not violate the intrinsic nature of the marital act nor treat human beings as commodities.

The coalition’s legislative team chair, Linda Theis, told NBC News that its leaders “met with Vivek early in the spring last year, a couple of different times.” She described those meetings as the basis for the endorsement: “He assured us that he was totally with us. We met with him a second time, and he made sure that he said to us — he verbalized that he was all about protecting life without compromise, which is our main standard, so that was our big thing.” Asked directly whether Ramaswamy had made any commitments to the group on contraception, Theis said, “No, we have not discussed that.” Ramaswamy’s campaign did not respond to NBC News’ requests for comment about whether he agrees with the coalition’s position on contraception.

In announcing the endorsement, RTLACO President Kate Makra called Ramaswamy “unequivocally pro-Life” and said the coalition “looks forward to partnering with Vivek to foster a more vibrant culture of life in Ohio.”

Ramaswamy has previously spoken in favor of contraception access. NBC News noted that in a 2023 CNN interview during his presidential campaign, he said he supported “substantive provisions in the law that codify greater responsibility for men in cases of confirmed paternity tests and also greater access to options like contraception, adoption and otherwise.” At a Republican primary debate that year, he promoted “access to contraception, adoption” and “the missing ingredient in this movement: sexual responsibility for men.”

RTLACO’s 2026 endorsement list also includes state Rep. Gary Click, the coalition’s endorsed candidate in Ohio House District 88.

Ramaswamy won the Republican primary on May 5, 2026, and faces Democrat Amy Acton, a physician and former director of the Ohio Department of Health, in the general election on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, is term-limited and cannot seek re-election.

The race comes after Ohio voters enshrined the right to abortion in the state constitution in 2023. Ramaswamy’s broader record on abortion, including his past praise for six-week bans, is detailed in prior TiffinOhio.net coverage.