Senate Democrats Renew Push To Protect IVF Nationwide
Three Senate Democrats are renewing their push to protect access to in vitro fertilization and other fertility treatments in new legislation released Monday morning.
The Right to IVF Act is a package of bills that Sens. Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), Patty Murray (Wash.) and Cory Booker (N.J.) have already introduced this session. The legislation would establish a statutory right to access IVF and protect providers from criminalization, as well as expand IVF insurance coverage and make the care more affordable for families. It also includes IVF protections and extended access for veterans and service members.
The Democrats rolled four of their bills into one to revive the conversation around IVF and hopefully have a better shot at passing the legislation. Most of the bills were blocked by Republicans or did not make it out of committee. The new bill includes the Access to Family Building Act, the Veteran Families Health Services Act, the Access to Infertility Treatment and Care Act, and the Family Building FEHB Fairness Act.
“Struggling with infertility is painful enough — every American deserves the right to access the treatment and tools they need to build the family of their dreams without the fear of being prosecuted for murder or manslaughter,” Duckworth, who had her two children through IVF, said in a statement.
“I’m proud to unveil this sweeping legislative package with my colleagues that would actually protect the freedom to receive or provide IVF nationwide,” she added, “while making these treatments more affordable and accessible for the millions of American families — including military families and Veterans — who are experiencing infertility across the country.”
Both Duckworth and Murray have long championed access to fertility treatments and other assisted reproductive technologies, introducing bills in the last few years to protect reproductive health care as access dwindles in the wake of the Supreme Court decision that repealed Roe v. Wade. Senate Republicans have blocked every IVF bill Democrats have brought to the floor, including Duckworth’s Access to Family Building Act in February.
Access to IVF took center stage earlier this year when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos should be defined as children — forcing several clinics to pause treatments and threatening care throughout the state. Although many Republicans have supported abortion bans that would also criminalize IVF, the party floundered for weeks after the widely unpopular Alabama ruling.
Recently, GOP Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Katie Britt (Ala.) introduced legislation that they claim would protect IVF by barring states from receiving Medicaid funding if they implement a ban on IVF. Cruz and Britt also claimed the legislation would create a federal right to IVF, although the bill does not do that. Critics of the bill believe the legislation could motivate states to reject Medicaid funding.
“Unlike GOP legislation that would not protect IVF and is only a PR tool for Republicans to hide their extremism, our Right to IVF Act would actually protect Americans from attempts to restrict IVF and would allow more people to access these vital services at a lower cost,” Murray said in a statement.
Duckworth, Murray and Booker are likely to get support from Democrats in the Senate, but will have a much harder fight with their GOP colleagues. Republicans will likely throw their weight behind Cruz’s and Britt’s bill now that there is competing fertility legislation.
In February, Duckworth tried to pass by unanimous consent her Access to Family Building Act, included in the Right to IVF package, but Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) objected, dismissing the bill as “a vast overreach.”
“The Right To IVF Act is the legislation we need to remove barriers and make it easier ― not harder ― for people to build their families,” Barbara Collura, president and CEO of RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, said in a statement. “Lawmakers have proposed a viable solution to permanently safeguard access to IVF in the face of legislative threats, and address the longstanding access issue of this needed medical treatment by closing the gap through comprehensive insurance coverage. Moreover, this law would increase access to care for our servicemembers and veterans, who have long struggled to have this procedure covered through their healthcare benefits.”
