Republicans Block Bill to Protect IVF Access Nationwide

Senate Republicans couldn’t put their votes where their mouths were when it comes to supporting in vitro fertilization.

As the fallout continues from an Alabama court ruling that deemed frozen embryos from IVF were “extrauterine children,” Democrats pushed a vote Wednesday on the Access to Family Building Act, which would enshrine federal protections for IVF and other assisted reproductive technology.

“They aren’t going to just stop in Alabama; mark my words, if we don’t act now, it will only get worse,” the bill’s author, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), said Tuesday.

The vote for the bill was via unanimous consent, which means any vote against the proposal will prevent it from proceeding into law. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) objected to the measure. “The bill before us today is a vast overreach that is full of poison pills that go way too far, far beyond ensuring legal access to IVF,” Hyde-Smith said in blocking the proposal.

The Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling on Feb. 16 was made in response to three lawsuits suing an Alabama IVF provider who lost their embryos. The court ruled almost unanimously that the couples were entitled to wrongful death damages for the embryos. Since then, fertility clinics in Alabama have paused IVF treatments in fear of litigation, sending a warning shot to IVF providers across the country.

Senate Republicans blocking the proposal to protect the procedure may not be welcome news to Republican strategists who have scrambled to reset course since the public backlash to the Alabama ruling. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, which assists campaign fundraising for Senate Republicans, issued a memo last week urging its members to vocalize support for IVF. Even Donald Trump voiced his support for IVF, calling last Friday for the Alabama legislature “to find an immediate solution to preserve the availability of” the treatment.

Trump wasn’t the only Republican to claim they support the treatment’s availability amid backlash to the ruling in Alabama, with several touting IVF’s role in allowing people to have children. Duckworth was skeptical. “No more vaguely worded tweets claiming they care about families — right now Republicans have a chance to show America whether they truly support IVF,” she wrote ahead of the move for unanimous consent on Wednesday.

Republicans declined to do so.

More from Rolling Stone

• Nearly 9 in 10 Voters Say IVF Should Be Legal

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