State Representative Marilyn Lands, D-Huntsville, in her first reelection campaign is seeking to build bipartisan support for policy priorities promoting personal autonomy in healthcare and politics.
In an interview last week, focusing on her legislation to ensure access to In Vitro Fertilization and contraception and her reelection bid, Lands told APR she is feeling hopeful about her reelection to the Alabama House and eager to continue pursuing legislation focused on reproductive health and advancing citizen participation in government.
House Bill 642, sponsored by Lands during the 2026 Legislative Session, would have codified Alabamians’ rights to access IVF and contraception.
Lands, who won her seat in a 2024 special election, led a campaign focused on IVF in response to the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling that year, which placed access to the treatment in jeopardy.
Although HB642, which was filed late in the session in March, did not see a committee hearing, Lands described introducing the legislation as a first step toward ensuring access to the treatments in future sessions.
“This bill is really quite simple,” Lands said. “It’s based on the idea that individuals should have the right to make personal choices and decisions about contraception and assisted reproductive treatments.”
“And healthcare providers should be able to provide those services without interference, but we’re seeing a lot of interesting things right now at the federal level that could directly affect access in the future,” the representative added.
The legislator pointed to the shifting nature of recent federal guidelines and debates regarding whether contraception access should be narrowed or reinterpreted, saying “states are the ones that have to step up and provide safeguards” when federal protections for contraception access become uncertain.
Alongside the current federal climate, Lands described the bill as an attempt to counteract state legislation such as a measure sponsored by state Sen. Shay Shelnutt, R-Trussville, mandating that schools exclusively teach abstinence-only sex education and that instructors may not provide instruction on contraceptive use.
Lands, who spoke against the bill when it appeared on the House floor, described the legislation as restricting the availability of accurate information on contraceptive use and expressed that the legislation, now law, could exacerbate Alabama’s teen pregnancy rate, which is among the highest in the nation.
“I have real concerns about us continuing to move backwards and not forward,” she said. “Alabama ranks last in so many of the key metrics, especially maternal and infant mortality, and we have got to create change here.”
The representative cited testimonies from friends and constituents regarding IVF access as prompting her to carry the bill.
“I think it was a really good conversation to get started because even I didn’t realize that many of my friends or their children were going through these struggles,” Lands said. “And so, it really hit home for me.”
“For many families, IVF is not a luxury. It’s their only path to having a child,” she added. “The only way to build a family.”
The lawmaker went on to highlight the importance of contraception to IVF, as hormonal birth control is commonly used before starting IVF to reduce the risk of complications and allow flexible scheduling of the treatment.
Beyond birth control’s use in conjunction with IVF treatment, Lands argued that protecting contraception access is essential to promoting individual health, autonomy and community engagement.
“For everybody, I think contraception needs to be protected; it is not optional,” Lands added. “It protects our health, our autonomy, and people’s ability to participate in education, work, and community life. And we need to ensure that these choices are available to people.”
When asked how the bill was received by state lawmakers during the 2026 session, the legislator said, “A lot of people were on board with the legislation.” However, with the bill coming late in the session during an election year, it failed to gain the momentum its sponsor had hoped.
“I think there was a lot of reluctance, perhaps, to be a cosponsor of the bill during the election year, but many people did express that they would vote for the bill if it had come to the floor,” Lands said.
“I’ve had a good track record of working across the aisle and building bipartisan support,” she added. “I did just that with the Alabama Maternal Healthcare Act, which passed both houses unanimously and was signed into law by the governor.”
Lands’ contraception and IVF legislation received endorsements during the session from Alabama Arise and the ACLU of Alabama, with Arise Senior Health Policy Advocate Jennifer Harris describing the bill as a major legislative priority for the organization in 2027.
“A number of different organizations really stepped up, even though it didn’t go anywhere, and it didn’t even make it to committee,” she said. “But I’m hopeful that next year it will.”
Discussing her campaign for reelection, Lands said her team has been going door-to-door and making phone calls to constituents with hopes of better understanding what issues residents of her district feel need to be tackled.
“We continue to hear healthcare, and we hear a lot about affordability right now,” she said. “A lot of people are really feeling pinched and are uncertain about the future.”
She went on to emphasize her deep roots in her district and hopes that her connections with local residents on both sides of the aisle will help secure her reelection.
“I’ve lived here all my life. I went to public school. I went to UAH twice and Alabama A&M,” she said.
“I’m about as much of a local yokel as you can get,” Lands joked.
“I know this district, and I know the people here, and I’ve heard their stories, and I have a lot of Republican support,” the lawmaker added. “So, I’m feeling very hopeful going into this election, but as you know, you never know.”
Lands described the reintroduction of HB642 as a major policy priority for 2027, should she secure reelection.
“Hopefully I’ll be reelected and I’ll reintroduce it. I hope it will be the start of a change in a new direction for Alabama, really leading the way about what is possible and championing families,” the lawmaker said.
The candidate also emphasized her intent to reintroduce legislation she carried during the 2026 session that would have proposed a constitutional amendment to establish a public petition process to initiate both laws and constitutional amendments.
“I think when the legislature doesn’t act, the people need a vehicle to do that,” Lands said, citing that 26 states and the District of Columbia have established similar ballot initiative processes.
Lands has no primary opponent for the Democratic nomination for her seat in Alabama House District 10. However, she will face Republican challenger Aaron Thomas in the November 3 general election.
