Gov. Andy Beshear during his weekly news conference said he supports protections for in vitro fertilization and renewed his call for exceptions to the near-total ban on abortion in Kentucky. (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley)

FRANKFORT — Gov. Andy Beshear on Thursday called out Kentucky lawmakers for wasting time on “culture war type issues” and denounced “extremism” that he said is limiting reproductive options.

The Democratic governor said he is “100% for” protecting access to in vitro fertilization and called an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos are children “horrendous.”?

Speaking at his weekly news conference, Beshear said: “This is what happens, though, when you embrace extremism.” He cited Kentucky’s near-total ban on abortion as another example. “Women that have non-viable pregnancies still have to oftentimes carry that pregnancy to term knowing they’re going to hear their child die moments afterwards if it hasn’t already happened.”

Kentucky lawmakers of both parties have filed bills to allow exceptions to the abortion ban for rape and incest and some medical conditions. Republicans hold supermajorities in both chambers; their leaders have not said whether the bills will move.

Beshear? was also asked about a new Republican bill dubbed the Women’s Bill of Rights. Versions of the bill have been introduced in other state legislatures spurring warnings that it could lead to discrimination against transgender people.?

Introduced by Sen. Lindsey Tichenor, R-Smithfield, the measure, Senate Bill 336,? among other things, declares there “are only two sexes, male and female.”?

Beshear said he had not read the bill, which was filed Wednesday, then pointed out that the legislature has a limited amount of time to do its work. Friday will be the 42nd day of this year’s 60-day session.

“Every moment that they focus on these culture war type issues, trying to create a new bogeyman for the next election, trying to rile people up, it means they’re not doing important work that could benefit every single person.”?

Beshear said his reelection in November shows that people want government officials to focus on “jobs and health care and moving their life forward.”

Tichenor said her bill is needed to maintain resources and private spaces for women. In a statement she said: “Over the past few years, we have seen men taking away female-specific resources, scholarships and accolades and invading their private facilities. As we have borne witness to the deterioration of the rights so many women have fought for, it is my hope this legislation will provide necessary language that will ensure the protection of those fundamental rights.”

Tichenor also said: “Men and women deserve to be treated equally, but that doesn’t mean they are identical. There are many biological differences between men and women that warrant the creation of separate social, educational, and athletic spaces for the safety and success of members of each sex.”

In response to the Alabama ruling, Kentucky lawmakers of both parties have filed bills seeking to protect in vitro fertilization (IVF), which is used to treat infertility, according to the Mayo Clinic, and can help people trying to get pregnant to do so.??

The Alabama Supreme Court ruled in mid February that frozen embryos are children, as the Alabama Reflector reported. Some worry this ruling will deter people in Alabama from attempting to conceive children via IVF, which sometimes involves freezing embryos for future attempts at insemination. Several clinics in Alabama, including the University of Alabama Birmingham, have paused IVF treatments and embryo transfers in response to the ruling.

Beshear said, “I’m of the generation where numerous of my friends have amazing children that have grown up with mine that I know so well that wouldn’t be here without IVF.”?

IVF, he added, “is helping people who want to be parents so badly to welcome special children into this world.”?

Beshear also hopes, he said, that the empathy response to the IVF ruling will carry over and help Kentucky get exceptions for rape and incest to its abortion ban. A Republican lawmaker has filed a bill that would add those exceptions, though it would allow abortions for rape and incest no later than the sixth week of a pregnancy, which doctors say is not medically helpful.?

“If these people really want to have a kid and science is going to help them do it, and they will be such great parents,” Beshear added about IVF, “why would we ever stand in the way of that?”