Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi on Wednesday blocked passage of a bill to protect access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) after Democrats tried to force a vote on the issue to put Republicans on the spot.
The move came after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that frozen embryos are children, sparking enormous outrage.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., called on the Senate to set aside the proceedings and immediately pass the Access to Family Building Act by unanimous consent on the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon.
Duckworth has warned that it is only a matter of time before other states could find themselves in a similar situation to Alabama, where some fertility clinics halted IVF after the court ruling, leaving thousands of families who tried to have children through IVF in limbo came.
But Republican Senator Hyde-Smith called the bill a “massive overreach that is full of poison pills that go way too far” and tried to prevent the bill from being considered.
She said the legislation would waive the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which would subject religious and pro-life organizations to “crippling lawsuits.”
Senator Hyde-Smith on Wednesday blocked a Senate vote on a bill to protect access to IVF, calling it a ‘massive overreach’
Senate Democrats are calling for passage of a bill to protect access to fertility treatments, the Access to Family Building Act, after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos are babies
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., announced she would seek unanimous consent for her bill to protect access to IVF and other fertility treatments in the Senate. Duckworth said she would not have been able to become a mother without such treatment
Duckworth blasted Republicans on Wednesday, posting on to protect.’
Last month, Duckworth, along with Senators Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., introduced legislation that would protect a person’s right to access fertility services such as IVF and health care providers who provide such services.
The bill would also have protected an individual’s rights with respect to the use or disposal of their reproductive genetic material and would allow the Department of Justice to bring civil action against any state or government official who violates such protections.
Duckworth has 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 in office. She noted that she was only able to become a mother through IVF after her military service in Iraq.
Duckwoth denounced the ruling, saying that the people who claim to “defend family values” are actively trying to implement policies that would prevent Americans from creating such families.
Senate Democrats’ push to protect IVF is the latest effort as families, health care providers and officials are in turmoil in the wake of the Alabama bombing, which is raising concerns that clinics could be held liable for destroying of fertilized eggs.
Some fertility clinics in Alabama have already halted treatments for fear of prosecution, as the ruling opened the door to wrongful death lawsuits in all cases where embryos do not survive being thawed and transferred to the uterus.
Embryo selection for IVF shown under a light photomicrograph – the treatment is overwhelmingly popular with Americans
The highlighted states have laws on the books 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 have rejected 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 for years that IVF would be next,” Duckworth said Tuesday.
She placed the onus on Senate Republicans, saying that if they “really care about the sanctity of families, they should show it by not blocking this bill.”
Republicans are trying 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.
GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley said she considers frozen embryos to be babies, but later tried to clarify that she was not saying she agreed 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 AL ruling is the direct result of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade with the addition of three justices he appointed
Haley, who spoke in general terms about her personal struggles with fertility, said she used artificial insemination to have her son Nalin, the second of her two children. She said she views embryos as babies, but later clarified she disagreed with the Alabama ruling
The National Republican Senatorial Committee also told DailyMail.com that none of their candidates support a ban on IVF.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in a statement after the court ruling that he supports IVF treatment.
But he and 124 other Republicans in the House of Representatives supported the Life Begins at Conception bill last year. It does not provide for an exclusion for IVF treatment, although it does say that nothing in the bill “shall be construed as authorizing the prosecution of a woman for the death of her unborn child.”