- Sen. Tammy Duckworth said she will ask the Senate to pass her bill by unanimous consent on Wednesday.
- The Access to Family Creation Law, introduced in January, protects access to IVF and other fertility treatments
- Lawmakers Fight After Alabama Supreme Court Rules Embryos Are Boys
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A group of Senate Democrats plans to force a vote on a bill to protect access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) and other fertility treatments after fertility clinics began suspending services following the Court ruling Alabama Supreme Court that embryos are children.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., announced she will ask the Senate to set aside procedure and immediately pass the Family Building Access Act by unanimous consent on the Senate floor on Wednesday.
She made her announcement surrounded by other Senate Democrats on Tuesday who held a news conference to address the Alabama decision that has sparked outrage across the country and put thousands of families trying to have children through IVF in limbo.
“It may only be a matter of time before more hospitals follow suit and more courts issue similar rulings that put more women at risk,” Duckworth warned.
Last month, she, along with Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., introduced legislation that would protect a person’s right to access fertility services like IVF and health care providers that provide these services.
Senate Democrats are pushing a bill protecting access to fertility treatments called the Family Building Access Act after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos are babies.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., said she will seek unanimous consent on her bill to protect access to IVF and other fertility treatments on the Senate floor on Wednesday. Ella Duckworth said she wouldn’t have been able to be a mother if it weren’t for that treatment.
The bill would also protect a person’s rights regarding the use or disposal of their reproductive genetic material and allow the Department of Justice to take civil action against any state or government official who violates those protections.
Duckworth noted that the issue is very personal to her. The senator and mother of two daughters is the first sitting senator to have a baby while she is in office. She noted that she was only able to become a mother through IVF after her military service in Iraq.
Duckwoth criticized the ruling, saying that people who claim to be “defending family values” are actively trying to enact policies that prevent Americans from creating such families.
Senate Democrats’ push to protect IVF is the latest effort at a time when families, health care providers and officials have been struggling in the wake of Alabama’s shocking ruling that raises concerns that clinics could be considered responsible for destroying fertilized eggs.
Some fertility clinics in Alabama have already suspended treatments for fear of prosecution, as the ruling opened the door to wrongful death lawsuits in all cases where embryos do not survive thawing and transfer to the uterus.
Embryo selection for IVF shown under optical micrograph: Treatment overwhelmingly popular among Americans
Prominent states have written laws that stipulate that life begins at the moment of fertilization. In Louisiana, the intentional removal or destruction of a human embryo is illegal
President Biden called the ruling “outrageous and unacceptable” in a statement.
Democrats criticized the decision as a direct result of the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
“Make no mistake: This ruling is a direct result of Donald Trump’s promise to overturn Roe v. Wade, and I have been warning that IVF would be next for years,” Duckworth said Tuesday.
She held Senate Republicans accountable, saying that if they “really care about the sanctity of families, then they should show it by not blocking this bill.”
Republicans have been fighting to reject the Alabama ruling.
Former President Donald Trump said he would “strongly support the availability of IVF” and called on Alabama to find an immediate solution.
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said she views the frozen embryos as babies, but later attempted to clarify that she did not agree with the Alabama ruling.
Former President Trump called on Alabama to find a solution following the ruling and said he supports the availability of IVF treatment. Democrats say the American League ruling is a direct result of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade with the addition of three justices he appointed.
Haley, who has spoken generally about her personal struggles with fertility, said she used artificial insemination to have her son Nalin, the second of her two children. She said that she considers embryos as babies, but later clarified that she does not agree with the Alabama ruling.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee also told DailyMail.com that none of its candidates support banning IVF.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, said in a statement after the court ruling that he supports IVF treatment.
But he, along with 124 other House Republicans, backed the Life Begins at Conception bill last year. He does not include an exclusion for IVF treatment, although he does state that nothing in the bill should “be construed as authorizing the prosecution of any woman for the death of her unborn child.”
