Speaker Mike Johnson says he supports I.V.F. treatments, despite backing a bill that would threaten them.

Speaker Mike Johnson addressing reporters in February.

Speaker Mike Johnson late Friday night added his voice to the chorus of Republicans claiming they support in vitro fertilization treatments, after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos should be considered children — despite previously supporting legislation that could put those treatments at risk.

“I believe the life of every single child has inestimable dignity and value,” Mr. Johnson said in a statement. “That is why I support I.V.F. treatment, which has been a blessing for many moms and dads who have struggled with fertility.”

Mr. Johnson, an evangelical Christian from Louisiana who has put his faith at the forefront of his politics throughout his career, is also a co-sponsor of the Life at Conception Act. That bill seeks to recognize a fertilized egg as a person with equal protections under the 14th Amendment, which amounts to a nationwide abortion ban. The bill states that the term “human being” includes “all stages of life, including the moment of fertilization,” and does not include any exceptions for I.V.F. and fertility treatments.

Mr. Johnson’s statement underscored the alarm over the Alabama ruling among Republicans who have struggled since the overturning of Roe v. Wade to appease anti-abortion activists while at the same time trying not to appear too extreme to the more moderate, swing voters they also need to win over. Since that Supreme Court decision in 2022, abortion rights have become one of the Democrats’ most persuasive issues with voters.

Mr. Johnson, who in the past has called abortion “an American holocaust,” said he supported “the Alabama Legislature for immediately working to protect life and ensure that I.V.F. treatment is available to families throughout the state.”

Democrats were not convinced. “House Republicans have made clear they will stop at nothing — including outlawing in vitro fertilization — to reach their ultimate goal: banning abortion and restricting reproductive rights nationwide,” said Courtney Rice, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “Their anti-family agenda, which elevates these dangerously out-of-touch positions into the mainstream, will cost them their majority this fall.”