ICYMI: Murray, Duckworth Unveil Sweeping New Bill to Establish a Nationwide Right to IVF and Lower IVF Costs for Families
Senator Murray: “Don’t let Republicans fool you—their top political leaders, including the Speaker of the House, continue to support legislation that would give an embryo the exact same rights as a living, breathing human being. They know that is at total odds with IVF—and they don’t care! They just want the American people to forget that inconvenient truth until after November— and we’re not going to let them.”
***WATCH: Livestream of the Press Conference***
Washington, DC– Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, spoke at a press conference ahead of the Senate vote this week on the Right to IVF Act, legislation Murray introduced with Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) that would establish a nationwide right to IVF and other assisted reproductive technology, expand insurance coverage of IVF services to lower the cost of IVF treatment for families, and expand access to IVF and other fertility services for our nation’s veterans and servicemembers. Murray was joined at the press conference by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY); Senators Duckworth and Booker; Jamie Heard, an IVF patient from Alabama whose IVF treatment was interrupted by the Alabama Supreme Court decision; Julie Eshelman, a military spouse whose daughter was conceived through IVF and who has faced family-building challenges due to military service and high out-of-pocket costs for treatment; Dr. Amanda Adeleye, an IVF doctor from Illinois; and Luisa Lopez, a New York resident who recently gave birth to a baby conceived through IVF and who faced financial hardships due to the extremely high out-pocket-costs of IVF treatment. Video of the press conference is available HERE.
“We already saw the chaos and heartbreak caused when the Alabama Supreme Court upended IVF access. Women who were days away from appointments they had waited months for, and spent thousands of dollars on, had their treatment canceled and their dreams of motherhood thrown into uncertainty,” said Senator Murray. “This already happened! It was national news. It was complete chaos. So, Republican efforts to dismiss this vote as fearmongering are simply not going to fly. Today, the threat is not gone—because the Life at Conception Act—supported by a majority of House Republicans—would make fetal personhood the law of the land, and take the crisis we saw in Alabama nationwide.”
“Tomorrow, we are going to hold a Senate vote on the Right to IVF Act—for all the American public to see. Every Senator will be put on the record as to whether they are serious about supporting IVF, serious about preventing more chaos like we saw in Alabama, and serious about standing with the one in seven women who need to turn to care like IVF to grow their families,” Murray continued. “Don’t let Republicans fool you—their top political leaders, including the Speaker of the House, continue to support legislation that would give an embryo the exact same rights as a living, breathing human being. They know that is at total odds with IVF—and they don’t care! They just want the American people to forget that inconvenient truth until after November— and we’re not going to let them. Senate Democrats will protect your right to IVF—and we will protect all reproductive health care for women in this country.”
Building on the lawmakers’ previous efforts to protect and strengthen access to IVF, the Right to IVF Act is a pro-family, pro-freedom legislative package that includes:
- Senator Murray and Duckworth’s Access to Family Building Act, which would establish a nationwide right for patients to access IVF and other assisted reproductive technology (ART) services, a right for doctors to provide IVF treatment in accordance with medical standards as well as a right for insurance carriers to cover IVF without prohibition, limitation, interference or impediment. By establishing a statutory right, this would pre-empt any state effort to limit such access and ensuring no hopeful parent—or their doctors—are punished for trying to start or grow a family.
- In February, Senator Duckworth sought unanimous consent to pass this legislation and Republican U.S. Senator of Mississippi Cindy Hyde-Smith blocked it.
- Senator Murray’s Veteran Families Health Services Act, which would expand the fertility treatments and family-building services that are covered under servicemembers’ and veterans’ health care to include—among other things—the option for individuals to cryopreserve their gametes (freeze their eggs or sperm) ahead of deployment to a combat zone and IVF for servicemembers and veterans who are unable to conceive without assistance.
- In March, Senator Murray sought unanimous consent to pass this legislation and Republican U.S. Senator of Oklahoma James Lankford blocked it.
- Senator Booker’s Access to Infertility Treatment and Care Act, which would increase the affordability of fertility care—including IVF—by requiring employer-sponsored insurance plans and other public insurance plans to cover fertility treatments. Additionally, it would standardize a baseline of high-quality fertility treatment coverage under private health insurance plans, while protecting Americans against excessive out-of-pocket costs.
- Senator Duckworth’s Family Building FEHB Fairness Act, which would require health insurers in the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program—the largest employer-sponsored health insurance plan in the world—to cover IVF and ART to help more hardworking Americans start and grow their families.
A summary of the bill can be found HERE.
Senator Murray’s full remarks, as delivered at the press conference, are below:
“We saw last week that despite the fact that there are Republican bills right now that would jeopardize birth control, Republicans were unwilling to vote to protect contraception.
“This week—we are going to see where they stand on IVF. As each of us has made clear—the threat to IVF is not hypothetical!
“We already saw the chaos and heartbreak caused when the Alabama Supreme Court upended IVF access.
“Women who were days away from appointments they had waited months for, and spent thousands of dollars on, had their treatment canceled and their dreams of motherhood thrown into uncertainty.
“This already happened! It was national news. It was complete chaos. So Republican efforts to dismiss this vote as fearmongering are simply not going to fly.
“Today, the threat is not gone—because the Life at Conception Act—supported by a majority of House Republicans—would make ‘fetal personhood’ the law of the land, and take the crisis that we saw in Alabama nationwide!
“Meanwhile, Republicans’ bill to allegedly ‘protect’ IVF wouldn’t do anything to stop these attacks, in fact it explicitly allows states to enact restrictions and burdensome requirements that would force IVF clinics to close their doors.
“That bill is nothing but a PR stunt—providing cover for Republicans to keep somehow pretending they are not trying to control women’s bodies.
“Now, the good news is, if Republicans really—truly and honestly—want to protect IVF in a meaningful way, Democrats have a bill to do just that!
“The Right to IVF Act protects the right to IVF, and lowers IVF costs for families—including our servicemembers and veterans, who should never have to sacrifice their ability to start their families.
“Tomorrow, we are going to hold a Senate vote on the Right to IVF Act—for all the American public to see.
“Every Senator will be put on the record as to whether they are serious about supporting IVF, serious about preventing more chaos like we saw in Alabama, and serious about standing with the one in seven women who need to turn to care like IVF to grow their families.
“So don’t let Republicans fool you—their top political leaders, including the Speaker of the House, continue to support legislation that would give an embryo the exact same rights as a living, breathing human being.
“They know that that is at total odds with IVF—and they don’t care!
“They just want the American people to forget that inconvenient truth until after November—and we’re not going to let them.
“Senate Democrats will protect your right to IVF—and we will protect all reproductive health care for women in this country.
“Thank you.”