For the second time in about three months, Republican and Democratic senators sparred over a set of in vitro fertilization bills in the nation’s capital.
Republicans blocked Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s (D-IL) Right to IVF Act on the same day Democrats blocked a GOP bill titled the IVF Protection Act.
Both bills claim to protect access to fertility treatment for women struggling to have children. So why can neither seem to pass?
Duckworth’s IVF legislation comprises several bills, including the Access to Family Building Act. It would make IVF and other assisted reproductive technologies a statutory right, preempting state laws and practices regarding the matter.
Conservatives are fearful that her legislation would remove legal and ethical regulations that oversee the IVF industry and reproductive technologies. They argue Duckworth’s framework would legalize embryo cloning, gene editing, and “designer babies.”
Senate Republicans, including Sens. Katie Britt (R-AL), J.D. Vance (R-OH), and Ted Cruz (R-TX), are also worried that the Illinois Democrat’s legislation erodes religious liberty under the guise of expanding IVF protections.
During a campaign appearance in Wisconsin, Vance insisted that his Democratic colleague’s legislation was “a huge infringement on religious liberty.”
“I would protect people’s access to fertility treatments,” Vance said. “I’d also like to protect Christian hospitals’ right to conduct their hospitals as they see fit.”
Cruz echoed a similar sentiment during remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday as he called it an “anti-religious liberty bill.”
Duckworth’s bill exempts itself from the bipartisan Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, which was introduced by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who now serves as the Senate majority leader. Conservatives have warned that if enacted, the Right to IVF Act would force churches or anti-abortion clinics to provide IVF health insurance coverage or access to reproductive technology.
When Republicans voted on Tuesday largely along party lines to kill the bill, Democrats blasted their decision.
“All I was asking of them was simply to support a bill that could’ve represented millions of women’s only chance of starting families,” Duckworth said. “On behalf of every woman who has faced the heart-shattering struggle of infertility, all I can say to my Republican colleagues this afternoon is: Shame. On. You.”
Top Democrats also suggested the other side of the aisle wanted to eliminate IVF treatments. “If Republicans get their way, the IVF services that so many families depend on are very much at risk,” Schumer said.
The same day, Senate Democrats blocked Britt and Cruz’s IVF legislation. The Republicans call the IVF Protection Act “the only bill that protects IVF access while safeguarding religious liberty.”
Their legislation would strip federal Medicaid funding from states that prohibit IVF services. Unlike Duckworth’s bill, it permits individual states to continue implementing existing health and safety standards regarding the practice of IVF.
Democrats are highly skeptical of the legislation.
“I have been perfectly clear about the glaring issue with this Republican bill,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) said. “The cold, hard reality is this Republican bill does nothing to meaningfully protect IVF from the biggest threats from lawmakers and anti-abortion extremists all over this country. It would still allow states to regulate IVF out of existence.”
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Tuesday marked the second time in about three months that Democrats voted down the Britt-Cruz legislation and Republicans blocked Duckworth’s bill. The first attempt to pass both bills came in June.
“Same song, second verse,” Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) commented on Tuesday.
