WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 Senate Republicans have blocked legislation that would protect access to in vitro fertilization, objecting to a vote on the issue Wednesday even after widespread backlash to a recent ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court that threatens the practice.
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, a Mississippi Republican, objected to a request for a vote by Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., who used to have her two children after struggling with years of infertility. Duckworth鈥檚 bill would establish a federal right to the treatments as the Alabama ruling has upended fertility care in the state and families who had already started the process .
Several clinics in the state announced they were pausing IVF services as they sort out last week鈥檚 ruling, which said that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law. The court said that three Alabama couples who lost frozen embryos during an accident at a storage facility could sue the fertility clinic and hospital for the wrongful death of a minor child.
Democrats have immediately seized on the election-year ruling, warning that other states could follow Alabama鈥檚 lead and that other rights could be threatened as well in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court鈥檚 decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade and the federal right to an abortion in 2022. Congress passed similar legislation in 2022 that would protect the federal right to same-sex and interracial marriages.
鈥淢ark my words, if we don鈥檛 act now, it will only get worse,鈥 Duckworth said.
Abortion opponents have based on the idea that a fetus should have the same rights as a person.
Hyde-Smith defended the that found frozen embryos can be considered children under state law. Republicans widely hold the stance that the federal government should not interfere with state-level decisions on reproductive care after the in 2022 left decisions on abortion restrictions up to states.
鈥淚 support the ability for mothers and fathers to have total access to IVF and bringing new life into the world. I also believe human life should be protected,鈥 Hyde-Smith said.
At the same time, Alabama lawmakers are scrambling to find ways to protect the treatments. And former President , the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, said he would 鈥渟trongly support the availability of IVF.鈥 Trump to preserve access to the treatment.
Many GOP lawmakers also reinforced their support for IVF services.
Soon after the decision, Alabama Sen. Katie Britt made calls to fellow Republicans, including Trump, to argue for the importance of supporting the treatments, emphasizing that they are pro-life and pro-family, according to a person familiar with the calls.
In a statement after the ruling, Britt said that 鈥渄efending life and ensuring continued access to IVF services for loving parents are not mutually exclusive.鈥
Other Republicans agreed. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, one of the more vocal opponents of abortion in the Senate, said he supports IVF and believes it is 鈥渆ntirely life affirming.鈥 Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, a former obstetrician, said he鈥檇 referred patients for IVF treatments for 25 years in his practice. 鈥淲e are the pro-family party, and there鈥檚 nothing more pro-family than helping couples have a baby," Marshall said.
Still, this is the second time Republicans have blocked Duckworth鈥檚 bill. By Bringing it up again, Democrats said they are challenging GOP senators to display real support for IVF access after many this week issued statements criticizing the Alabama ruling. Democrats held the Senate floor for 45 minutes Wednesday with a series of speeches deriding the overturn of Roe v. Wade.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Tuesday that Republicans who have denounced the Alabama ruling 鈥渁re like the arsonist who set a house on fire and say, why is it burning?"
For Duckworth, the bill holds deep personal significance. After she was seriously injured while piloting a Black Hawk helicopter in Iraq, she became an amputee and was only able to have her own children, ages 5 and 9, through IVF.
鈥淎fter a decade struggling with infertility after my service in Iraq, I was only able to get pregnant through the miracle of IVF,鈥 Duckworth said on the Senate floor. "IVF is the reason I get to experience the chaos and the beauty, the stress and the joy, that is motherhood."
She called her infertility 鈥渙ne of the most heartbreaking struggles of my life. My miscarriage more painful than any wound I ever earned on the battlefield."
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Associated Press writer Kim Chandler contributed from Montgomery, Ala.
