WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats are making a renewed effort to signal their support for ensuring nationwide access to in vitro fertilization, releasing legislation Thursday that’s part of an election-year effort to address Republican opposition to reproductive health protections to draw attention to care.
Senator Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat who used fertility treatment to have her two children, introduced a bill called the Right to IVF ACT, which would also make it more accessible through insurance, as well as to military members and veterans. Although a few Senate Republicans have advanced their own proposal that would discourage states from banning IVF treatments, neither bill is expected to receive the significant bipartisan support it would need to pass Congress. accepted.
Instead, Democrats this month are trying to show how Republicans are mostly unwilling to support legislation that would provide federal protections for reproductive care. It’s a similar strategy that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, used in the run-up to the 2022 election after the Supreme Court struck down the nation’s right to abortion.
“This will be one of the most important issues in the presidential campaign, and make no mistake: Joe Biden is fully in favor of women’s reproductive rights. Donald Trump has stood up to them time and time again,” Schumer said at an event in his home state last week.
After Roe v. Wade was overturned, questions about reproductive care have largely been delegated to individual states. Earlier this year, several clinics in Alabama suspended IVF treatment after the state Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law. The state later passed a law providing legal protections for IVF clinics, but Democrats have argued that Congress must take action to ensure nationwide access to reproductive care such as IVF and contraception.
Schumer also plans to force a procedural vote this week on a separate bill that would guarantee the right to contraception, but Republicans are expected to largely oppose that measure as well. Still, this push is causing Republicans to make their views known on an issue that is expected to be at the top of voters’ minds when they vote this fall.
Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, said in an interview last month that he was working on a policy to regulate access to contraceptives — then denied the comments hours later on social media, saying he “never and never will” advocate for it restrict birth. control and other contraceptives.
Since the Supreme Court sided with conservatives two years ago and struck down the nation’s right to abortion, Republicans have largely resisted telling states what to do, even if it means restricting reproductive care in some places. Republicans in Congress have almost all said they personally supported IVF but opposed legislation that would guarantee nationwide access to the fertility treatment.
Republican lawmakers have also been careful not to interfere with abortion opponents’ ability to advance state laws that grant a fetus the same rights as a person. Sens. Katie Britt of Alabama and Ted Cruz of Texas have advanced a proposal that would threaten to withhold federal Medicaid funding from any state that enacts a complete ban on IVF treatment.
When she introduced the bill last month, Britt said in a statement: “IVF is pro-family, and I am proud to strongly support continued nationwide access to this path to parenthood for the millions of American couples dealing with infertility to have.”
Schumer has said Democrats plan to spend “a significant amount of time talking about reproductive rights” this month. As part of that effort, Duckworth, along with fellow Democrats Sens. Patty Murray of Washington and Cory Booker of New Jersey, legislation that brings together four previous bills on IVF.
The bill would provide the right to use IVF and other reproductive technology, and make it more accessible by requiring employer-sponsored insurance plans and other public insurance plans to cover fertility treatments. Military members and veterans would also have greater access to fertility advice and treatments.
“Struggling with infertility is painful enough – every American deserves the right to access the treatment and resources they need to build the family of their dreams, without the fear of being prosecuted for murder or manslaughter,” Duckworth said in a statement.
