[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 75 (Wednesday, May 1, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H2821-H2822]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PROTECTING ACCESS TO IVF

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 9, 2023, the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Wild) is 
recognized for the remainder of the hour as the designee of the 
minority leader.
  Ms. WILD. Madam Speaker, before we begin, I want to take a moment to 
acknowledge that as of today, Florida's cruel and inhumane 6-week 
abortion ban has taken effect. Attacks on women's basic reproductive 
freedom have not and will not stop. While days like today are 
difficult, they also remind us of the stakes that we are facing in this 
fight.
  I, for one, am proud to stand here and declare my unwavering support 
for reproductive freedom. When the Supreme Court took the cruel but 
unsurprising step to overturn Roe v. Wade, my heart broke for all the 
women whose basic reproductive freedom would now be in jeopardy.
  As a mother, a lawyer who used to represent healthcare providers, and 
as a sitting Member of Congress, I have

[[Page H2822]]

always believed that private medical decisions should be kept squarely 
between a woman and her healthcare provider.
  After my immediate horror at the Dobbs decision faded, I started 
thinking about what other opportunities this would open up for far-
right extremists to further control women's bodies and their healthcare 
decisions. It is why I worked hard with my staff in the year after 
Dobbs to draft and introduce the Access to Family Building Act, which 
would codify a right to in vitro fertilization and other assistive 
reproductive technologies at the Federal level, because I knew that 
extreme politicians, intent on controlling women's bodies, wouldn't 
stop at abortion rights. They were coming after all forms of 
reproductive healthcare.

  One month after I introduced this bill on the House floor, the 
Alabama State Supreme Court made the heartbreaking and cruel decision 
to classify frozen embryos as children, throwing IVF patients and 
providers into a state of confusion and panic.
  We heard it almost immediately. Clinics stopped doing the procedures 
at all. Women who were in the middle of an IVF treatment cycle 
literally had to just stop.
  On the heels of the Alabama decision, more than 150 of my colleagues 
signed on as cosponsors of the bill. Numerous healthcare and advocacy 
organizations endorsed it, including the Military Family Association, 
and constituents across my community and throughout the country shared 
their own difficult fertility journeys.
  As someone who struggled with infertility myself, I know how 
heartbreaking and expensive this process can be. I know for sure that 
politicians and courts should not have a say in how anyone chooses to 
start or grow their families.
  Don't let anyone tell you that it is just rich career women seeking 
to defer their childbearing years who rely on IVF. Over the past 
several months, I have been in close contact with both veterans and 
cancer patients, men and women, by the way, who have spoken about their 
own IVF needs and their fears that this safe and reliable procedure may 
now be in jeopardy.
  The reality is that these are the stakes that we are dealing with. 
The reason we are gathered here tonight is to shed light on additional 
pieces of legislation that some of our colleagues have introduced or 
supported, which, if enacted, could have the same repercussions as the 
Alabama decision.
  It is important to note that not everyone on the other side of the 
aisle is aligned on this issue, and I applaud the handful of my 
Republican colleagues who have signed onto the Access to Building 
Families Act to protect IVF and other forms of reproductive assistance. 
However, there is a real and present threat that exists right here in 
Congress of extremists who have signaled their explicit intention to 
attack IVF and other forms of reproductive healthcare at the Federal 
level.
  Make no mistake. Any of these national bans that have been talked 
about or proposed that would classify frozen embryos as children would 
supersede State-level protections thereby throwing IVF access into 
complete jeopardy nationwide. That includes a State like mine, 
Pennsylvania, which currently has no such restrictions.
  A Federal ban would absolutely affect every woman and couple in 
Pennsylvania and throughout the country trying to start a family and 
experiencing infertility issues requiring them to avail themselves of 
these types of reproductive technologies.
  That is why I am not going to stop fighting to protect it, and it is 
why I am proud to have received such overwhelming support for the 
Access to Family Building Act. I hope that we will soon be able to 
bring this to a vote on the House floor.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________