Republicans want to stay away from the IVF issue. Abortion foes won’t let them.

Antiabortion lawmakers on Capitol Hill are facing a quiet pressure campaign by some of their most influential supporters to ramp up their defense that frozen embryos should legally be considered people and advocate for legislation that would codify a central driving force of antiabortion policies.

In the wake of the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos created and stored for in vitro fertilization treatments are “unborn children” — and that those who destroy them could be held liable under a wrongful death law — ardent abortion opponents at the Heritage Foundation and Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, among other groups, have sought to push lawmakers and state legislatures toward regulating IVF treatments in the United States. That could include limiting the number of embryos created during a round of IVF, legally codifying the recommended guidelines for embryos transferred during IVF cycles and limiting the use of pre-implantation genetic testing.