[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 100 (Thursday, June 13, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4067-S4075]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
F_____
RIGHT TO IVF ACT--MOTION TO PROCEED
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will
resume legislative session.
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 413, S.
4445.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 413, S. 4445, a bill to
protect and expand nationwide access to fertility treatment,
including in vitro fertilization.
Mr. SCHUMER. I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
Right to IVF Act
Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, last week, every Senator was put on the
record as to whether they will defend the right to contraception, and
despite Republicans' words about supporting birth control, their
actions--voting against the Right to Contraception Act--spoke louder.
Today we are putting Republicans on the record on another issue
families across the country are deeply concerned about: the right to
IVF.
As we saw in Alabama, the threat to IVF is not hypothetical. It is
not overblown, and it is not fearmongering. After the Alabama Supreme
Court ruled that a frozen embryo is the same--has the exact same
rights--as a living, breathing human person, women who waited for
months and spent tens of thousands of dollars and were days away from
an IVF appointment were left to wonder if it was all for nothing when
their treatment was abruptly canceled.
And families that had already gone through IVF were left to wonder if
they could have their providers now dispose of unused embryos without
facing legal threats.
This happened. It was national news. It was complete chaos. So
Republican efforts to dismiss this vote as fearmongering are simply not
going to fly--especially when, right now, there are Republican bills,
right now, that would enshrine as a matter of law that life begins at
conception and that discarding unused embryos is, essentially, murder.
That would essentially end IVF in our country.
And this is not a fringe bill, either. It is supported by the
majority of House Republicans, including the Speaker.
Mr. President, I don't know how to make this any clearer to my
Republican colleagues: You cannot support IVF and support fetal
personhood laws. They are fundamentally incompatible.
Democrats are not going to let Republicans off the hook for their
support for fetal personhood. This is a dangerous and extreme ideology
that the public must understand Republicans support wholeheartedly.
We are also not going to let Republicans paper over their extremism
with their so-called solution: a bill that is not only silent on
ensuring embryos can be discarded but that explicitly allows States to
put burdensome restrictions on IVF and create the kind of legal
uncertainty that forced clinics in Alabama to close their doors.
Mr. President, I do have good news for any of my Republican
colleagues who do genuinely want to support IVF in a serious,
meaningful way. We have a bill before us today that will do just that,
and we are going to vote on it very shortly: the Right to IVF Act.
I really want to thank Senator Duckworth and Senator Booker for
working with me to put together a bill that would protect Americans
from attempts to restrict IVF and help people get those vital services
at a lower cost. The Right to IVF Act would establish a Federal right
for patients to get IVF care and for doctors to provide it. It would
ensure more health insurance plans cover IVF services, making care
finally accessible to middle-class and lower income families who
desperately need it.
And this package includes my bill to help more veterans and
servicemembers who have difficulty conceiving get the critical
fertility services they need to start their families, including IVF.
This is something I have long been pushing for, for years now, and it
is long overdue. After all, these men and women fought to protect our
families. We owe it to them to make sure they have the support when
they come home to grow theirs.
None of this should be controversial, especially if Republicans are
serious about supporting IVF and preventing more chaos like we saw in
Alabama.
I will have more to say before the final vote, but the bottom line
is: Americans saw earlier this year, with painful clarity, just how
real the threat to IVF is, and they are going to see right now just who
is serious about addressing that threat and protecting IVF access.
With that, I will turn it over to my colleague from Michigan, who has
been a champion on this issue.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.
Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, first, I want to thank the senior
Senator from Washington State, who is also the President pro tempore of
the U.S. Senate, for her incredible leadership on all of the issues
related to reproductive freedom.
And I just want to start by saying that I cannot believe that we are
in 2024--we are not in 1824; we are in 2024--and we have to stand on
the floor of the U.S. Senate and say that we need to protect a woman's
right to choose IVF as the process to start or grow her family or that
we have to protect her ability to make decisions on birth control or on
abortion services or any other reproductive issue--any other
reproductive issue.
This is not for people here to decide what every single woman--every
person--involved in this should decide. It is not for politicians. It
is not for judges. This is an individual freedom in America and needs
to be protected, and that is what today is about as well.
For those who want to have children but struggle with infertility,
IVF is a path. It is a wonderful path--expensive path. It may take a
lot of time, but it is an important path to grow a family.
I have two senior members of my staff who have chosen IVF for
different reasons. One of my staff has a beautiful little boy, Carter,
who celebrated his first birthday not long ago. Amazing. And my other
staff person is excitedly waiting with her wife for their new son to be
born in September.
Different paths, different choices. Their choice. Their choice. Not
the choice of politicians. Not the choice of judges or anybody else.
Their choice.
And IVF has helped thousands of Americans have children, including
Brittany from Holly, MI, who I know is with us today. After being
diagnosed with PCOS at 16, she experienced fertility issues when she
was ready to start a family. After 3 years, six rounds of fertility
treatments, countless tests, and two rounds of IVF, she gave birth to
her beautiful baby girl, Eloisa, who is now 8 months old--8 months old.
Despite the strain this journey put on her relationships, Brittany
told me that ``Every penny was worth it for our daughter.'' She said:
Every penny was worth it for our daughter. IVF has made our
family complete.
And she is not the only Michigander who has been able to start a
family because of IVF. When her husband was serving our country in the
U.S. Navy, Sue from Brighton, MI, used IVF to bring her son into the
world. At the time, she was an elementary schoolteacher and her husband
was deployed for months at a time. Her entire salary went toward the
seven rounds of IVF that were needed to have a successful pregnancy--a
wanted, present pregnancy.
With insurance only paying for some of the medication, Sue spent over
$100,000 out of her own pocket on treatment. This journey put an
emotional and financial strain on Sue and her husband, as we would
expect.
And this situation is not unique. Our veterans and our servicemembers
sacrifice so much for our country. They shouldn't have to sacrifice
their ability to start or grow their family because these treatments
aren't covered. And families shouldn't have to choose between going
into debt to cover the enormous cost of treatment and having a baby
just because it is not covered by insurance.
That is why passing the Right to IVF Act is a no-brainer for me. I
hope it is a no-brainer for everybody on the floor of the Senate. This
should be 100 Members of the Senate supporting this bill.
We need to protect the freedom for millions to use IVF. We need to
expand
[[Page S4068]]
and protect fertility treatments for our servicemembers and our
veterans and cover adoption assistance, which is in this bill. We need
to lower the cost of IVF for everyone, and we need to make sure women
have the freedom to make our own reproductive decisions--not rightwing
politicians, not judges.
That is why we must pass the Right to IVF Act, and it needs to be
done today.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
Ms. CANTWELL. I rise to join my colleagues here. I want to thank my
colleague from Washington, Senator Murray, for her leadership and so
many others who are here on the floor today.
I come to speak also about the Right to IVF Act and want to say how
important it is that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle support
this.
I want to take one minute, though, to talk about the important
decision the Supreme Court just made on mifepristone. It is so
important because 60 percent of abortions in the State of Washington
are done with this drug. It is a highly safe and effective medication
used by millions of Americans. And the Court ruled on standing alone.
It didn't reach any conclusion about the ludicrous arguments that the
plaintiffs were making.
So America should not rest on this decision because anti-choice
activists are going to keep using the courts to target abortion. It is
just another reminder of why we have to fight for reproductive freedom
and why we can't rest.
I also, though, want to talk about how important it is to support the
legislation in front of us. Every American should have a chance to use
fertility treatments to bring new life into this world and to become a
parent. This opportunity wasn't always available. The first child
conceived through IVF was born in 1978. That was an era of major
advances and new freedoms for women: the right to have your own credit
cards, the right to choose to have your access to an abortion and when
you start your family, the right not to be discriminated against in so
many ways.
Today, nearly half a century after IVF, it is safe, it is well-
established, and many, many, many American families rely on it. In
fact, more than 2 percent of all children born in the United States are
born as a result of IVF. We have IVF to thank for over 2,000 new lives
created in the State of Washington just in 2022.
IVF brings new life into the world and helps families start their
families, and it shouldn't be controversial. That is why I can't
believe that we have to take this action today because there are those
who are trying to take this hard-won right away from families, to take
away their reproductive rights and their freedoms.
Since the Dobbs decision revoked the constitutional right to
abortion, we have seen waves and waves of different things that affect
our healthcare. In February, in Alabama, the State supreme court
shockingly ruled that frozen embryos legally have the same rights as
living children. That forced IVF clinics in the State to temporarily
halt their services. One can only guess why they halted those services.
At a Pacific Northwest facility in Seattle, a reproductive
endocrinologist said her office got a wave of phone calls from
fertility patients wanting to move embryos there, to the Northwest,
after the Alabama ruling. They were terrified that the ruling could
cause complications for the embryos and the future of their IVF
process. The doctors said there is an increase in cost, in complexity,
and the risk of damage to embryos associated with moving them because
of the possibility of threats to IVF access.
I have heard so many stories from my own constituents and that of
Senator Murray's. A mother from Kirkland told me she gave birth to a
baby boy after 4 years of fertility treatments, but she is afraid that
the future in States might force people like her to remain without that
option.
A Spanaway mom of a 19-month-old conceived through IVF asked me to
protect IVF so that everyone can choose--everyone gets to choose--when
they start their family.
Grandparents from Bremerton of an IVF baby wanted me to know that,
during the IVF process, everything--everything, everything--is time-
sensitive.
But rulings like Alabama's throw the process into chaos, potentially,
permanently ripping away the prospects for these couples of having
children.
A Vancouver woman struggling with infertility due to scarring in her
abdomen pointed out that IVF is science, and courts and legislators
shouldn't be interfering with it.
A woman in Everett, currently going through the IVF process for her
second child, urged me to ensure everyone has access to those
treatments.
My constituents are right. Congress needs to act today to expand and
protect the access to IVF.
While it is safe and common, the IVF process still is stressful. It
is still expensive. And that is why the possibility of activists going
to court in an overzealous, anti-choice State and getting involved in
these choices is not what we should support. We should support making
sure that this right is protected. We can't have this continued attack
on reproductive healthcare in the United States of America.
The bill we are voting on today would establish the right to access
IVF. It also would expand insurance coverage, which is incredibly
expensive. Just one cycle can cost between $15,000 and $30,000, and
many women require more than one cycle. So that cost can be as high as
$60,000.
It would also allow our veterans to help preserve their
opportunities.
In February, this Chamber tried to pass a narrow bill codifying the
right to access IVF, and it was blocked.
My colleagues on the other side of the aisle claim reproductive
freedom isn't under attack. Trust me. Come to the State of Washington,
where we have codified these rights. We are seeing this happen.
Physicians are moving to our State because they are not sure, if they
go home across the Idaho border, that they are not going to get
arrested. Women are coming over to get treatment, not sure if they can
get back to their State.
The system is more clogged because more people are coming there
because we provide the care. All of this is making the system harder to
deliver the important things.
I should just say that people aren't even thinking of the two
collision courses here, where the vertical integration of healthcare is
making it harder and harder for people like gynecologists to even stay
in business. And now we are making it harder and harder on States that
are the ones who are carrying the burden of upholding reproductive
rights.
I ask my colleagues to support this important measure. Let's make
sure Americans have the freedom to decide for themselves when and how
to have children, and let's put this to rest. Let's give Americans the
certainty that fertility treatments in America are part of your
healthcare delivery system.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Colorado.
Mr. HICKENLOOPER. Mr. President, this is my son Jack, who I think you
know. Every time I look at him, I remember the doctor telling my wife
Robin and me that we had literally a one-in-a-million chance of
naturally conceiving a child--a one-in-a-million chance.
Like so many other couples in America, we had experienced a family
health issue that would make having a child very difficult and
exceedingly unlikely--all but impossible. You don't know how hard it is
to hear something so definitive, so final until you are in that
situation. It was the end of a dream we had to create a child together,
to grow our little family--our family that, like so many others, didn't
have the usual path to this point, the usual path that makes having
children without medical help all but certain.
But regardless of what the doctor was telling us, we knew that we
would welcome a child with more love and care than I could ever put
into words, if we only had the chance.
If red States like Alabama had their way, Robin's and my story would
have ended there, in inconsolable heartbreak and what might have been,
what should have been. Thankfully for us, we don't live in an America
as envisioned by MAGA Republican extremists in Alabama.
The one-in-a-million odds weren't the end of our dream. It was just
the start of a new part. That part was called in
[[Page S4069]]
vitro fertilization. It is not an easy process. It comes with its ups
and downs, its uncertainties, and tremendous cost, both economic and
emotional. But it meant our dream could still come true.
And in December 2022, my wife and I welcomed this amazing little man,
Jack Hickenlooper, into our family. In vitro gave us what we hoped for.
It gave us our one in a million. And we are not the only ones. In 2022
alone, more than 2,300 babies were born in Colorado through fertility
services. Across the country, it was nearly 100,000 families. Now, so
many families like ours are cherishing the sacred experience of staring
into your own child's eyes--when they take off the sunglasses--and of
that child staring back.
Every family should have that same opportunity. And to restrict that
opportunity in some States but not in others, or for some people but
not for others, is nothing more than anti-American. Aren't we the
country that stands for equality and freedom?
We are standing here voting on this today because the Supreme Court
overturned Roe v. Wade, seizing the rights of millions of women, same-
sex couples, and families like our own in the process.
Don't take my word for it. Look at Alabama. We have already seen in
vitro services stopped cold in the State of Alabama.
That is not all. In the aftermath of the Roe decision, we have seen
red States and MAGA Republicans trying to roll back the rights to
abortion, to in vitro, and even contraception--banning contraception in
America in 2024.
The door is open right now for all of us to show our constituents
that American families are more important than playing politics. I
certainly hope we all do.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority whip.
Mr. DURBIN. I want to thank Senator Murray for her leadership on this
issue. I thank my colleague Senator Tammy Duckworth.
I first met Tammy Duckworth about 12 years ago. She was my guest at a
State of the Union Address. She was a patient at Walter Reed Hospital.
She was recovering from the wounds which she incurred in a combat
helicopter, fighting for the United States of America.
What happened to her is unimaginable. A terrorist shot a rocket-
propelled grenade into the cockpit of her helicopter, and it landed in
her lap. She lost her left leg as a result of it and went through at
least a year, maybe more, at Walter Reed Hospital, patching her up,
saving her arm, thank goodness, and giving her the kind of guidance she
needed to lead a life.
When I met her, I knew she was an extraordinary person, an
extraordinary American. I didn't know how extraordinary until I called
her one day and said: Would you consider running for office? In a
moment of weakness, she says, with medication, she answered yes.
I watched her elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and to the
U.S. Senate. She has become more than just a colleague. She is a friend
I dearly love. I believe we are lucky to have her in the Nation and in
the U.S. Senate.
She made a phone call to me about 8 years ago. I remember it so well.
I was driving on Interstate 55 up to Bloomington for a meeting, and it
was Tammy that gave me some news.
I said: What is up, Tammy?
She said: I am going to have a baby.
You could have knocked me over with a feather. I couldn't believe it.
After all she had been through--losing a leg, going through a year or
more at Walter Reed Hospital--she and her husband Brian finally had a
dream come true. Through in vitro fertilization, she was going to have
a baby girl. It was a miracle. I couldn't believe it. Yet it did
happen.
We had to change the rules of the Senate so Tammy Duckworth, the
first woman Senator to have a child while serving in the Senate, could
bring her baby on the floor of the Senate. We have a special rule for
that. But it meant so much for her to let her little girl have that
experience that we changed the rules.
The reason I tell you that story is it could be repeated over and
over thousands and thousands of times. In vitro fertilization is the
ticket for military servicemembers and veterans like Tammy Duckworth to
have the joy of a child. In fact, she has had a second child through
IVF. And with that joy, she showed that she cannot only be a great
Senator and a great wife, but a terrific mother too.
What is at stake here is privacy and freedom--privacy and freedom--as
to whether we as Americans are going to respect one another in making
these fundamental human decisions. There are politicians in this
Chamber as well as in legislatures across the country who want to make
that decision for your family. Don't let them take that away from you.
That is why this vote is so critically important. What we are
guaranteeing is the privacy and freedom of individuals and families who
want to choose IVF to start or expand their families. That is just
common sense.
If you are pro-choice, protect the choice to use IVF to expand your
family. If you are pro-life, protect the life that comes out of that
process. It becomes such a critical part of your own life.
I listened to Senator Hickenlooper. I met Jack. He is worth all the
effort and pain they went through. People like Senator Hickenlooper and
his wife Robin should have that opportunity, and we should protect it.
Let's make sure we do.
Vote yes on this proposal.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, when I introduced the Women's Health
Protection Act a little more than 10 years ago, the idea that Roe v.
Wade might be reversed was unthinkable--in fact, unimaginable. We are
living now in the post-Dobbs era, which is one of horror and heartbreak
for women across the country.
Let's be very clear that the ramifications in our law, in our
families, in bedrooms of Americans are widespread and real. The Alabama
Supreme Court's ruling is absolutely horrifying to women and families
who want IVF to give them the miracle of childbirth, the wondrous magic
of a new life as part of their family.
Now, a lot of people are going to look to today's Supreme Court
decision and say: Isn't it comforting? No, it is not. This decision on
mifepristone was made on a legal technicality. It does nothing to
restore the reproductive rights and access to abortion that the Supreme
Court dismantled in Dobbs, and it does nothing to reassure families
that IVF will be accessible and affordable to them. That is why we need
the Right to IVF Act--to reassure Lisa, who lives in Norwalk, CT, who
has a healthy and happy baby girl as a result of IVF and cannot imagine
life without it. Families like Lisa's wouldn't exist if it weren't for
IVF, and many will not exist if we do not pass this measure.
Those who vote against this measure are not in favor of life; they
are anti-women, anti-choice, anti-science. This miracle is the result
of scientific advance.
I am going to close by just recalling a trip that I recently took to
Normandy on the 80th anniversary of D-Day. Walking through the American
cemetery, row upon row of gravestones, white, silently eloquent
testimony to the importance of freedom and the American determination
to expand freedom and liberty across our country and the world, and
then to walk on Omaha Beach and see the absolutely insurmountable,
three-football-field-long terrain that those soldiers had to confront
and overcome on D-Day. I would guess that few, if any, of those young
men knew of Roe v. Wade--they were kids, 17 and 18 years old, had never
been away from home before, farm boys, mechanics--but they knew they
were fighting for freedom. That is why they jumped into that 8 feet of
water, under a hail of bullets and mortar fire, fighting for the ideal
that America respects and expands the frontiers of freedom.
If we have one-tenth, one-hundredth of their courage and
determination, today this body will vote for the Right to IVF Act
because it is about freedom.
One Justice of the Supreme Court called the right of privacy ``the
right to be let alone,'' and that is what American families want--the
right to
[[Page S4070]]
be let alone from politicians or government bureaucrats telling them
what to do with their families.
We owe it to Americans. We owe it to the great tradition of our
veterans of military service, to all who have given their lives to
preserve America, the ideal and the beacon of freedom around the world.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I rise in support of the Right to IVF
Act, and I want to thank Senator Murray, who is here, and Senators
Duckworth, Booker, and Schumer for their leadership on this bill. I am
proud to be a cosponsor.
We all know why we are here. We are all here in part because the
Supreme Court made a wildly unprecedented decision in the Dobbs case.
They threw out decades of precedence, making it the case that my
daughter has less rights today than her mom or her grandma did. The
ruling goes against the wishes of between 70 and 80 percent of
Americans.
In the wake of the disastrous ruling, extremist judges have attempted
to undermine IVF and even criminalize doctors for simply doing their
jobs. Twenty-one States have fully or partially banned abortion. The
number of U.S. patients traveling to other States for care has
skyrocketed to one in five. I know because they are coming to Minnesota
from North Dakota and South Dakota.
But it wasn't enough for them to just mess with a women's right to
decide her own healthcare, no. Now they are trying to control when you
choose to start a family. We saw this happen earlier this year in
Alabama, where the State supreme court brought IVF procedures in the
State to a screeching halt. This is merely the latest instance of the
chaos and cruelty that have been unleashed since the Dobbs decision.
We know what a miracle IVF is. You just saw Senator Hickenlooper's
adorable little boy. IVF is a miracle for millions of families who
can't otherwise have children, and no politician and no court should
interfere.
Since 1978, over 8 million children have been born due to fertility
treatments like IVF. In 2022 alone, more than 1,800 babies were born in
Minnesota, in my home State, thanks to IVF. That is why we are fighting
to protect these rights.
I am thinking of Miraya and Meta, whom I met this morning, two
Minnesota moms. They are with us. They both became parents through the
miracle of IVF.
Meta said: I am the proud mother of twin girls, but without IVF and
my ability to access treatment, they would not be here today. Our twins
are now almost 8 years old, and I cannot imagine my life without them.
They are incredible humans who are already bringing so much love, joy,
and hope into the world.
That is why, along with Senators Duckworth, Murray, Booker, and
Schumer, I am calling on our colleagues to pass the Right to IVF Act.
This legislation is hardly a radical proposal. It simply ensures that
families can be in the driver's seat when it comes to family planning,
not people who want to strip away the rights of those who have them.
This bill safeguards a patient's ability to seek IVF and a healthcare
provider's ability to provide these critical services. It ensures that
our veterans can choose if, when, and how to start their families.
Because the kind of healthcare insurance you have shouldn't determine
whether your family can access the miracle of IVF, the bill requires
health insurance carriers to cover fertility treatments.
For these last years, we have seen complete chaos, a patchwork of
laws across the country. What this bill does is protect freedom,
protect the right to start a family.
We all have an opportunity today to make clear where we stand, and I
call on our colleagues to join us. The American people overwhelmingly
support this bill. Let's get it done.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.
Mr. SCHATZ. Mr. President, nearly one in five American couples has
trouble conceiving, and many of them turn to IVF for help. In the year
2021, more than 85,000 babies were created using this miraculous
procedure--truly a miracle. Yet they will also tell you, these parents,
that undergoing treatment is hard and long and painful and challenging
and expensive and emotionally and physically draining. It is often a
last resort. After a long journey of failed attempts, they talk to
their doctor, and their doctor says: Would you like to try this? And
even that is going to be super expensive and maybe not work. One in
five families experiences this trouble, and there is this miraculous
treatment that can help you to start a family.
So let's be really clear about what the so-called pro-life movement
is about here. It is not about life at all. In this instance, it is
specifically about assigning the rights of a fully formed human being
to a fertilized embryo in a petri dish so that they can control
females--so that they can control females. That is exactly what this is
about.
Look, there is a fair amount of spin going around Washington--more
than usual--because Republicans understand how angry families are, how
angry people who are not yet able to conceive are, and so they are
trying to get people to believe something other than their own eyes and
their own experience.
But here is the beauty of this place: We talk and talk and talk and
talk and talk, and then we vote. There is one opportunity and one
opportunity only to enshrine the right to IVF in Federal statutory law.
I don't care what you tweeted. I don't care what you said on cable
news. I don't care what the memo from the campaign arm of the
Republican National Committee says. In a few minutes, we will know the
official position of the Republican conference on IVF, and the Susan B.
Anthony list and the MAGA Court and these extreme forces in our society
are going to show that the Republican Party is not for IVF.
I wish it were different. I wish we could pass this law. But the
beauty of the Senate floor is that everybody will be on the record by
the end of the afternoon.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.
Mr. WELCH. Mr. President, I rise in support of this legislation. I
thank my colleagues, Senator Murray, Senator Booker, and Senator
Duckworth.
You know, there are two things. One is good news, and one is bad
news. I will start with the bad news.
We have a terrible U.S. Supreme Court. It will live in infamy for
many reasons but none more than an ignominious decision that took away
constitutional rights that American citizens enjoyed. They stripped
women of their right to choose. Enormously bad consequences. It has
created an incentive for folks who have their views to try to impose
them on others, and we saw that in Alabama with their effort to
prohibit people from having access to in vitro fertilization.
But there is good news. The good news: our American families, couples
who want to have a child, who are so excited about taking on that
challenge of loving this new person and caring for them through their
infancy, through their adolescence, looking forward to when they
themselves will be grandparents. That is the good news.
In 2022, 91,000 infants, through IVF, came into these families, so
those couples have that opportunity to have this place to give the love
that is within them that they can now express, having this child. That
is really the good news here. So, yeah, I am upset about the Supreme
Court, but I am so excited about American families that want to make
this decision and have IVF as an option for them to be able to realize
their dreams of giving love to this new person in the world.
Now, our Republican colleagues are saying that this is a show vote so
why pay attention to it. Well, you know what, they are right. They are
right. It is a vote to show that we want to make certain, with the
power of the U.S. Congress, that the decision a family wants to make
about trying to conceive through IVF is protected; that they have the
capacity to take advantage of the best medicine that is out there to
realize that dream that is a dream about life. And what is wrong with
showing the people of the United States that each and every one of us
in the U.S. Senate wants to not only show that we respect and honor the
decision
[[Page S4071]]
those citizens are making, but with the power invested in us as U.S.
Senators, we are going to use the authority of our vote to guarantee
they have that right?
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.
Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, thank you to Senator Duckworth for her
leadership today on the floor.
In February, the Alabama Supreme Court placed the medical procedure
that has helped millions of Americans realize their dream of having
children, in vitro fertilization, or IVF, at risk. The Alabama judges
used the Supreme Court's decision in the Dobbs case to justify their
argument.
These extremist judges showed the American people that the Dobbs case
was never just about abortion. Dobbs was a preview of coming
atrocities, and the Supreme Court majority declared open season on
American reproductive freedom.
And Republicans got to work. States passed immediate and overbroad
abortion bans; peeled back protections for access to birth control,
IUDs, and Plan B; and put access to IVF at risk. They created
confusing, restrictive, and punitive schemes across States and
threatened to jail patients and providers.
And they aren't finished. Republicans don't have to pass a national
ban on abortion, birth control, or IVF to effectively achieve that
goal. Confusion, misinformation, and fear are the point. In some
States, they make it so difficult and so terrifying to get reproductive
care that it is like it is already banned.
But in creating this chaos, Republicans have made clear their
intentions and their position: Republicans will not protect the right
to an abortion; Republicans will not protect the right to birth
control; and Republicans will not protect the right to start a family.
Republicans will try to hide their extremism and say they support
contraception and IVF, but we are calling their bluff.
Given the chance to protect access to contraception, they voted no.
And today, given the chance to vote to protect IVF, they will vote no.
Republicans will continue to pursue their anti-choice, anti-freedom,
and show the American people what ``GOP'' really stands for: Gutting
Our Protections. The GOP are so offended by bodily autonomy that they
would rather follow the extremism of the few than the will of the
majority of American people who want their reproductive rights
protected.
We must meet the clarity of their extremism with the clarity of
justice. We will fight for reproductive freedom. We will fight for
national protections for abortion, birth control, and IVF. We will keep
putting them on the record, and we will guarantee that they are held
accountable to the American people who will not forget who tossed away
their freedom in pursuit of radical rightwing extremism.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, the Right to IVF Act is simple. It says
that all Americans should have access to the tools that they need to
start a family, no matter where they live or how much they earn or
whether they serve in the military.
That all sounds obvious. We shouldn't even need this bill, but we do
need this bill. We need this bill because a judge in Alabama ruled that
an embryo that is created by basic assistive reproductive technologies
like IVF can be considered children. And that even if embryos aren't
viable, an IVF provider could be held liable for manslaughter or murder
if anything happens to those embryos.
We need this bill because the cost for a single round of IVF is
enough to bankrupt a family, let alone two or three or four rounds, and
many parents are forced to bear all of those costs out-of-pocket. A
constituent in Oregon said:
Most fertility treatments are considered ``elective'' by
insurance companies. I never elected to have a deformed
uterus and fallopian tubes.
Another parent in Oregon who was a public servant for 22 years added
up the out-of-pocket costs:
$9,000 to see the Reproductive Endocrinologist, $2,000 for
consultation and diagnostic testing . . . $7,000 for
medications . . . $3,000 for cryo-preservation and storage
fees . . . $5- to 7,000 for genetic testing . . . $2- to
3,000 for embryo transfer.
Then, we hope and pray it works. If not, then we do a
second round. Again, all cash. Our insurance benefits do not
cover ANY infertility treatments. We have nothing left.
This is unacceptable. Fertility treatments are medical care that
should be covered by insurance, full stop. We need this bill because
many of our military servicemembers and veterans have been wounded and
lost the ability to conceive, and many more are deployed to dangerous
combat zones right now. Infertility rates for our members of the
military can be up to three times higher than the rest of the
population. They protect our families. Let us protect their ability to
have a family and guarantee they have access to IVF and the other
fertility care they need.
And we need this bill because, as we celebrate the month of June as
Pride Month, we know that many of our LGBTQ+ friends and family members
rely on IVF to conceive.
We shouldn't need this bill, but we do, to protect IVF providers, to
cover IVF costs, protect the ability of members of our military, LGBTQ
community to start a family.
Anyone who has been through IVF knows that someone who is willing to
endure the long and heart-wrenching process that involves truly wants
to become a parent, to have children, to raise a family. And we should
do all we can to support that.
So I urge my Republican colleagues to reconsider. Instead of being so
anti-family, instead of denying the ability of our community members to
have children, join us in this protection.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I rise and want to thank my colleague from
Washington State who has been leading on these issues for years and
years and my friend from Illinois. And what I am going to do just
briefly, my colleagues have been so eloquent, is talk about why Senator
Duckworth's legislation is so important at this crucial time. It is
absolutely essential that we pass the Duckworth bill.
And as far as I am concerned, I am prepared to stay on this floor--I
mentioned this to my colleague--for as long as it takes. We are just
going to stay at it until we get this done. And the reason I feel so
strongly about this is, several decades ago, as a young Member of the
Congress--the other body, the House, with a full head of hair and
rugged good looks--I wrote a law called the Fertility Clinic Success
Rate and Certification Act. It was supported by the profession. It was
supported by patient groups.
And I never imagined, after we passed that law, that people would be
out here on the floor of the U.S. Senate trying to unravel the progress
that has been made. And when we passed it, it was all about some simple
ideas, particularly clarity for the families trying to navigate the
system. It was largely information.
It was a new technology then, decades ago. It is not now. Now it is
proven. Families rejoice being able to use it.
And never did I imagine that we would have an effort on the floor of
the U.S. Senate trying to turn back the clock, trying to unravel the
progress that has been made. That is what Senator Murray and Senator
Duckworth are taking on: a rearguard action to turn back the clock and
unravel the progress that has been made for so many families.
And, unfortunately, this is kind of where we have been for a while,
trying to unravel the progress with respect to contraceptives, trying
to unravel the progress with mifepristone. We will have more to talk
about all of this.
But the court ruling out of Alabama earlier this year would have
effectively turned back the progress, made IVF impossible. And since
then, we have seen the far right, as my colleagues have said, trying to
build on the effort to take away our freedom.
And none of this seemed to me, Senator Duckworth, imaginable several
decades ago when people were rejoicing because they knew how to
navigate the system and get information, figure out what providers were
right for them, and it worked so well, as it does today.
And your bill is absolutely essential business for the Senate. I
would just
[[Page S4072]]
say to my colleagues here: Do not vote to unravel all of this progress
that families rejoice in. Support the Duckworth legislation.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.
Mr. COONS. Mr. President, I am the Senator from Delaware, and I am
joined by my colleague from Delaware. And one of the things that has
long distinguished Delaware--it was one of the first States in the
whole country where, because of her personal experience with IVF, a
former Republican, Delaware insurance commissioner, helped drive
through mandatory insurance coverage for IVF in the State of Delaware
years ago. The idea that today we would be on the floor of the Senate
advocating on behalf of Senator Duckworth's bill to put in law
protections, the right to access IVF, would have been unthinkable.
I still remember, as someone hoping to become a parent, struggling
with the challenge of working through difficulties that we as a couple
faced in becoming pregnant and talking all the time to friends and
neighbors and others who were going through similar challenges. There
is nothing more important in life than being a parent. And sometimes
all of these activities and debates here on the floor don't connect.
People have a hard time understanding why this matters. One of the
reasons I am so thrilled that Senator Duckworth is leading this effort
here on the floor today is it is easy to understand. Because of her
service to our Nation, because of her grievous wounds in combat is why,
perhaps, this is so important to her and her family.
But I wanted to share the story of a Delawarean, and I am so grateful
she has allowed me to share her story today.
Lindsay Griffin was diagnosed with Stage IV endometriosis, which
prevented her from ever conceiving naturally. Lindsay and her husband
were determined to become parents. And like so many of us, knew that it
would be expensive and difficult and take a long time. They even took
out a $25,000 loan to pay for IVF.
Lindsay endured procedure after procedure, surgeries, embryo
transfers, even the loss of a pregnancy. Now, today, years later, they
are parents to two healthy boys, 7 and 2.
Why would we in this country put this blessing of parenthood for so
many in Delaware and Illinois and throughout our Nation at risk? It is
already hard enough.
Today, Lindsay and her husband are blessed with two children. But in
States like Alabama, far-right lawmakers and judges have already tried
to deny families this precious gift.
The vast majority of Americans want us to pass this bill today, want
us to protect the right to IVF. Eighty-six percent of Americans in a
recent poll want us to do this. So why is this even controversial? In
the best of circumstances, the journey to the blessing of parenthood is
difficult. The journey to the blessing of parenthood through IVF is
incredibly hard: emotionally, financially, physically.
Let's stand up for families for the common and shared principle that
the blessing of parenting should not in any way be barred by threats to
the procedure of in vitro fertilization. I stand before you today as
someone committed to protecting IVF in Delaware, in this Congress, in
this Nation.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Baldwin). The junior Senator from Hawaii.
Ms. HIRONO. Madam President, as we approach the 2-year anniversary of
the disastrous Dobbs decision, I am struck by the chaos it has sown
across our country.
Last week, on this floor, I was joined by a number of my Democratic
colleagues in speaking out against the Republicans' attacks on
contraception. Despite the relentless attacks from my colleagues across
the aisle that they actually support the right to contraception, when
it came down to it, nearly every single Republican voted against a bill
protecting the right to contraception.
Today, I rise in defense of another tool that has helped millions of
people across our country start or grow their families. This tool is
called in vitro fertilization. For decades, IVF and other assisted
reproductive technologies--or ART--have helped people who otherwise
couldn't start families of their own.
While some on the right like to paint IVF as some sort of new or
untested technology, that is not so. The first baby delivered via IVF
was more than 45 years ago, and since then, IVF has helped bring more
than 10 million babies--10 million babies--into this world. In fact, as
a State representative in the Hawaii Legislature in the 1980s, I led
the passage of a bill making Hawaii one of the first States in the
Nation to require health insurers to cover IVF treatment. That was in
1987, years before the iPhone, before email, before some of my
colleagues in Congress were even born. And earlier this year, I met Dr.
Lori Kamemoto, an OBGYN who helped deliver the first baby born in
Hawaii via IVF.
And yet, thanks to the chaos created by Dobbs, a whole range of
reproductive rights are on the chopping block. Look at Alabama, where
the State supreme court invoked a fetal personhood law to call into
question the legality of IVF, effectively halting IVF treatments in the
State. In this Chamber, earlier this year, Republicans blocked our
attempts in passing a bill protecting IVF.
The impacts of these concerted attacks are being felt far beyond the
red States. In Hawaii, a doctor who practices in the OB-GYN field on
Oahu reported that he ``[O]bserved an increasing level of anxiety among
both [his] fertility patients and staff.'' So Hawaii being one of the
first States to protect IVF and promote IVF, this doctor is saying that
even his patients are seeing the impact of all of these attacks on our
reproductive rights.
IVF is a complicated process as it is, even under the best of
circumstances. The last thing people trying to conceive need to worry
about is being criminalized by some of the States I mentioned--
Alabama--because of the whims of far-right jurists and politicians.
That is why this bill is so important. It would establish a
nationwide right for patients to access IVF and other ART services and
a right for doctors to provide IVF treatment. And, crucially, it would
require and expand health insurance coverage of IVF because we know
access without affordability is not true access. But my Republican
colleagues appear blinded by their obsession with power and control
over women's bodies that they are unable to support even this
commonsense bill--again, indicating how out of touch Republicans are
about the needs of particularly women in our country. It is
disappointing, but not surprising. They continue to show us just how
out of step they are with the American people.
So today, the Democrats will vote to protect the right to IVF as we
continue working to ensure people can make decisions about their
bodies, their lives, and their futures--free from government
interference.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The senior Senator from Delaware.
Mr. CARPER. Madam President, as many of our colleagues know, I am the
proud father of two sons and a stepson. It has been the joy of my life
to be their father. My wife and I love them all unconditionally.
But the journey to parenthood is not the same for every family, nor
always an easy one. Being the last Vietnam veteran serving in the U.S.
Senate, I know the importance of helping our servicemembers when they
return home from deployment abroad.
During my three deployments to Southeast Asia many years ago, many of
my brothers in combat shared dreams of coming home to marry and start
families of their own. But those who made it home from Southeast Asia,
as well as other war zones past and present, have often struggled with
health issues for years to come, including infertility.
While IVF was not an option for returning Vietnam veterans, had it
been available, I know it would have helped countless young couples
start their families in the country they fought so hard to protect. We
have an obligation to serve those who serve our country, and this bill
does just that.
The Right to IVF Act is a commonsense piece of legislation, and
bringing more life into this world should be an issue that all of us
can agree on.
I urge all of our colleagues to join us today in passing this
legislation before us.
[[Page S4073]]
With that, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The junior Senator from Minnesota.
Ms. SMITH. Madam President, I rise today to urge my colleagues to
vote in favor of the Right to IVF Act. So here is something that is
close to a miracle. People who have struggled and struggled to have
children are able today, through the very best science and medicine, to
conceive and to bring a child into the world. It is incredible; it is a
blessing.
In 2021, more than 86,000 babies born in America were conceived
through IVF. And in my home State of Minnesota, I have heard from so
many of my constituents who have struggled with infertility and who
wouldn't have children but for IVF. So today, we have the opportunity
to vote on a bill that protects us. Our bill is straightforward in its
purpose. It would establish a clear and enforceable nationwide right
for people to receive IVF, for doctors to provide IVF, and for health
insurance to cover IVF.
So if you live in a State where a Republican State legislature passes
a law infringing on IVF, that would be stopped by our bill. If you get
your health insurance through your employer, your health insurance
would cover your care. If you are a servicemember or a veteran, as my
colleague Senator Carper said, you are covered--same for Federal
employees. And if you get your health insurance through Medicaid, which
covers 40 percent of the births in this country, you are covered.
So you may be asking: Who could disagree with this? It is a good
question. And here is the reality. Since the extremist Supreme Court
Justices--appointed by Donald Trump and confirmed by Senate
Republicans--since they overturned Roe, Trump abortion bans across the
country have sown chaos and confusion. And they have emboldened States
that have created this chilling effect on reproductive healthcare and
emboldened States like Alabama to restrict IVF.
Now, if my colleagues on the other side want to protect IVF, if they
believe that doctors and providers should be able to provide IVF
without fear of criminal prosecution, then they would vote for our
bill.
Colleagues, I hope that Republicans will vote with us to proceed on
our bill so that we can make real progress to protect access to IVF and
to say very clearly that government has no business interfering in your
families' decision about the healthcare that you need to treat
infertility.
If my Republican colleagues want to make it clear where you stand on
IVF, please join us in voting for this bill today. If you vote no, your
actions speak louder than any words.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The junior Senator from Illinois.
Ms. DUCKWORTH. Madam President, I rise today to speak in support of
my bill to protect IVF. Elissa Smith was living in Alabama when she
heard the news this past February. She had been pregnant a few years
earlier, but it had left her with scars, both emotionally and
physically.
She had been in her third trimester with her first child when she had
learned that she had cancer. She gave birth early to a beautiful baby
girl. Then soon after, she underwent surgery, chemotherapy, multiple
medical procedures--you name it--a care plan that helped to get rid of
the disease but that also left her unable to conceive again.
Thankfully, she had than undergone one round of IVF before her
treatment for cancer.
Fast forward to early 2024, things were finally getting brighter. She
and her husband had just begun to research surrogates to carry her
viable embryos. Then, a gavel sounded out of her State courthouse,
marking the ruling that changed theirs and so many other families'
lives.
On February 16, the Alabama Supreme Court declared that frozen
extrauterine embryos created through IVF should be considered children
under State law--a ruling that painted would-be moms and their doctors
as criminals and one that uprooted the dreams and began the nightmares
of aspiring parents, as IVF clinics statewide soon paused treatments
out of fear that their doctors and patients would be punished for
trying to start families.
Elissa was one of these women. Now, it seemed like her desperately
hoped for wish of growing her family was snatched away by an extremist
court that either had no idea or simply didn't care about everything
that had gone into trying to turn her dreams of a family into reality.
Elissa's story is exceptional. But it is not the exception. For so
many women, that lifelong hope of having children is now stuck in a
hellish limbo, as they remain uncertain whether more States will follow
Alabama's lead; as they are forced to live in fear that Republican
success come November would even further imperil their right to try to
create a family; as they remain unsure whether living in a red State
under a Trump Presidency could mean getting jail time for committing
this supposed sin of needing modern medicine to bring into the world a
baby to nuzzle and swaddle and love.
Look, I was actually stationed in Alabama many times throughout my 23
years of military service. And I didn't know it at the time back then,
but infertility would become one of the most heartbreaking struggles of
my life, my miscarriage more painful than any wound I ever earned on
the battlefield.
It is only thanks to IVF that I get to be embarrassingly proud when I
hang my 6-year-old's drawings on my Senate office walls or that I get
to be tackled in bed every Mother's Day by my 9-year-old who runs into
my room bearing the biggest of hugs and sweetest of cards.
So excuse me if I find it a bit offensive when a bunch of politicians
who have never spent a day in med school hint that those of us who have
needed the help of IVF to become moms should be sitting behind bars
rather than lulling our babies to sleep in rocking chairs.
My apologies if I take it personally when the same folks who rely on
NRA blood money to get elected suggest that women like me are
committing acts akin to murder when all we are trying to do is create
life and not have to suffer through more miscarriages.
You know, right after the Alabama ruling came out, I came to this
very spot and begged my GOP colleagues to help me pass my bill that
would set the simple standard that no doctor or hopeful parent could be
criminalized for IVF. And Republicans blocked it. This was after days
and days of the GOP claiming to support IVF. This was after they
claimed to support reproductive health. This was after days of them
claiming that they actually gave a damn about the women in this
country. Naturally, that was all untrue, all a ruse to mislead voters.
And at this point, it is obvious: The only thing they care about is
kissing up to trial room Trump and bowing down to the most extreme wing
of their party. Things like common decency or common sense doesn't even
register anymore.
It comes down to this: Every woman deserves to be able to be called
``mama'' without being called a criminal. That is why, today, I am
trying once again to pass legislation that would enshrine into law
every American's right to IVF, now called the Right to IVF Act.
If Republicans actually care more about protecting women's health
more than they do about getting invitations to Mar-a-Lago, then all
they have to do to show it is help me move my bill forward--because,
look, struggling with infertility is hard. Using all your savings to go
through round after round of IVF is hard. This vote? Well, that is one
thing that is actually really simple: Vote for it.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana.
Mr. CASSIDY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for up
to 5 minutes, followed by Leader Schumer for up to 3.
Mr. BOOKER. Reserving the right to object, if the Senator would allow
me just to not give my remarks on the floor but enter them into the
Record, I am happy to give consent to that.
Mr. CASSIDY. Absolutely. And I did not mean to cut you off, and I
apologize. I did not know you were in the queue. I apologize.
Mr. BOOKER. I am the junior Senator from New Jersey; I am used to
being cut off.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. BOOKER. Madam President, I rise today in support of the Right to
[[Page S4074]]
IVF Act, a package of bills that I was proud to introduce alongside my
colleagues, Senator Duckworth and Senator Murray. This legislation does
two key things: it establishes an enforceable nationwide right to
fertility treatments, including in vitro fertilization or IVF and it
allows more people to access these critical, family building treatments
at a lower cost by expanding insurance coverage.
I am especially proud that my bill, the Access to Fertility Treatment
and Care Act, is included in this package. This bill makes fertility
care, including IVF, more affordable by requiring employer-sponsored
insurance plans and other public insurance plans to cover those
treatments.
Millions of Americans who rely on fertility treatments and IVF to
build their families face excessive out-of-pocket costs.
This would help Americans like Lindsay Gordon, a constituent of mine
from Glassboro, NJ, realize her dream of starting a family. When
Lindsay and her husband Daniel were diagnosed with male-factor
infertility, IVF became the only option to have children. But even
though they both worked for private corporations, neither Lindsay nor
Daniel had insurance coverage for fertility treatment. So they drained
their life savings and Lindsay actually took on a second job at night
to afford IVF treatments, working over 18 hours a day for over a year.
Heartbreakingly, Lindsay and Daniel suffered multiple miscarriages
while going through the process to achieve a pregnancy. In all, their
fertility journey cost them close to $100,000 in out-of-pocket
healthcare costs. This is a staggering burden that can keep people from
accessing these medical services.
There is a happy ending to their family building journey: Lindsay and
Daniel were ultimately blessed with a baby boy. But no family should
have to struggle so much to build the family of their dreams.
There is overwhelming support for the Right to IVF Act: it has 46
cosponsors in the Senate. By supporting this legislation, we make clear
to Lindsay and Daniel Gordon and to the American people that being rich
or poor should not dictate whether you get to start or grow a family.
Supporting this bill also sends the message that radical courts and
legislators should not dictate whether someone has access to
reproductive health care.
Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, we have seen a full-
scale assault on the rights of women to make their own reproductive
health care decisions. We have seen increased attempts by State
governments to exercise control over women's bodies, including by
criminalizing expectant mothers. And we have seen confusion and
uncertainty amongst medical providers, who are trying to uphold the
oath they swore to care for their patients.
The Court's radical decision to overturn Roe opened the floodgates on
attacks beyond abortion to other types of reproductive health. The
Alabama Supreme Court made a medically and scientifically unfounded
decision that a frozen embryo should be treated as the legal equivalent
of an existent child or a fetus gestating in a uterus. IVF treatment
immediately halted across Alabama following this ruling, illustrating
how fragile access to these services are without a federal enforceable
right to IVF.
I firmly believe that everyone everywhere deserves to have access to
high quality, comprehensive healthcare. Healthcare includes
reproductive services, fertility care, and abortion. I am not alone in
this belief. Most American adults agree with me that these rights must
be protected.
I know there are people across this country, in red States and blues
States alike, making deeply personal reproductive healthcare decisions.
These decisions should not be more difficult because of the assault on
reproductive freedom. I look forward to continuing to fight to protect
your fundamental freedoms and to increase access to reproductive
healthcare for every American.
I yield to the Senator.
Mr. CASSIDY. Madam President, I have been sitting here listening to
this, and I can't help but notice that my Democratic fellow Senators
have chosen to disrespect and deceive the American people as they
politicize a deeply personal issue for short-term political gain--
distorting facts, capitalizing on the pain and the longing of women
desperate to conceive, families desperate to hold a child. Democrats
are trivializing, for political purposes, the substantial emotional,
financial, and personal investment required of a woman and of a family
to become pregnant through IVF.
Let's set the record straight. I support IVF. Republicans in the
Senate support IVF.
Now, the tragic situation in Alabama has been used to fearmonger and
scare that IVF is somehow in jeopardy, as though for someone who has a
hope for a future family, that hope is threatened. And that is not
true. Let's just say there is no State in the United States of America
that prohibits a woman from growing her family through IVF, and
Democrats know that.
Let me say that again. There is not a single State which bans IVF;
and Alabama, which has been mentioned several times, specifically
passed a law after the Mobile incident in which they make sure--
affirm--that IVF is available.
So this bill before us today would have done nothing to prevent that
which happened in Mobile, where embryos were dropped and destroyed. In
the recent case at Mobile's Center for Reproductive Medicine, a
hospital patient wandered into the embryology lab--how did that
happen?--removed five human embryos from cryostorage, and dropped them,
destroying the embryos.
Tragically, cases like this are not isolated. There was a storage
tank failure in San Francisco that resulted in the death of 3,500 eggs
and human embryos and another in Ohio in which 4,000 eggs and human
embryos died.
A recent investigation into a fertility clinic with 33 locations
across the country uncovered multiple instances of accidental embryo
destruction, mislabeled embryos, and labs with faulty heating,
ventilation, and air conditioning.
Just this year, a fertility clinic in California used hydrogen
peroxide instead of distilled water during the incubation period--used
hydrogen peroxide instead of distilled water--rendering all of the
embryos nonviable. Then, if you can believe it, the clinic allegedly
transferred more than two dozen embryos into would-be mothers despite
knowing that this would not end in a pregnancy.
It is expected, at a minimum, that fertility clinics protect and
respect human life, keeping these treasured embryos safe. Women,
mothers, parents--they deserve better.
But what we have today is a haphazardly copied and pasted bill that
sets up a messy hierarchy of unfunded mandates and inconsistent
policies. For example, under this legislation, private insurance
companies are required to provide unlimited fertility treatments and
related storage, but the bill limits how many treatments a veteran can
get through the VA clinic.
So why are women who receive care at the VA treated differently than
those with commercial insurance? If access to IVF is really a problem
and this legislation is really needed, we could have addressed that if
we had taken this bill through the committee process, but I note that
Leader Schumer plucked it out of the committee before we had a chance
to address the shortcomings, and he brought it to the floor for, I
presume, political purposes.
By the way, we don't even have a CBO score. That is usually like, you
can't bring anything to the floor unless you have a Congressional
Budget Office score. How much is it going to cost? It is because this
is not serious legislation. The CBO, by the way, acknowledges that it
has not evaluated and cannot evaluate this mash-up of bills.
The committee process would have allowed us to explore the effect of
a mandate on Federal programs like Medicare, the DOD, the VA, small
businesses, and State Medicaid programs. So how will this legislation
impact that woman business owner with 20 employees, 10 of whom are
women in their childbearing years? We don't know. We don't know because
this is not serious legislation. It was not taken through the committee
process. It is a political process. Now, we can guess. Premiums will
skyrocket.
[[Page S4075]]
I ask unanimous consent for 2 more minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. CASSIDY. That woman I described with a small business who has 10
employees must now make the challenging decision to absorb the new cost
or consider not offering health insurance to employees or laying
employees off.
Interestingly, labor unions got more time to comply with the
insurance mandate than others. If this is a political bill, you would
expect a carve-out for political supporters.
The bill requires coverage of genetic testing of human embryos, which
may help inform decisions about which embryos to transfer first, but to
what end? And will these tests be used to screen for life-ending
conditions?
I only see two limits in this bill: one, on the ability of healthcare
providers to exercise their conscience rights when practicing medicine
and, two, on States that wish to regulate the practice of medicine in a
way that treats human embryos with the value and dignity they deserve.
Republicans are so open to working with Democrats on a sincere
bipartisan effort, but this is a show vote. Unfortunately, Democrats do
not care about working with Republicans to protect IVF access. They
wish to manufacture an issue they can campaign on.
Today's vote is disingenuous. Pushing a bill that is haphazardly
drafted and destined to fail does a disservice to all women who may
pursue IVF treatments.
I will end as I started. This seems a deceiving, disrespectful bill
to misinform and scare the public and to gin up Democratic votes for
November. And that is shame. Americans deserve better.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, today, Senators face a very simple
question: Do you agree Americans should have access to IVF; yes or no?
If ``yes,'' the only correct answer is to vote yes on the Right to IVF
Act.
Protecting IVF should be the easiest ``yes'' vote Senators have taken
all year. All this bill does is establish a nationwide right to IVF and
eliminate barriers for millions of Americans who seek IVF to have kids.
It is personal to me. I have a beautiful 1-year-old grandson because
of the miracle of IVF. And so, in a perfect world, a bill like this
would not be necessary, but after the fiasco of the Alabama Supreme
Court decision and the generally MAGA views of some on the Supreme
Court, Americans are genuinely worried that IVF is the next target of
anti-choice extremists.
To my Republican colleagues who say they are pro-family, today's bill
protecting IVF is as pro-family as it gets, and we should vote yes
today.
It is a contradiction to claim you are pro-family but then turn
around and vote to block protections for IVF. The contrast today is
glaring. Here in the Senate, Democrats are talking about protecting
women and IVF, and a couple of blocks away, Trump and our Republican
colleagues are talking about protecting tax cuts for the very wealthy.
So the American people are watching how we vote today on basic
freedom. Parents back home are watching how we vote. Couples who want
to become parents are watching how we vote. It is very simple: If you
support access to IVF then vote to protect access to IVF today.
Thank you to Senators Duckworth, Murray, Booker, and so many others
leading on this legislation.
I urge a ``yes'' vote.
Cloture Motion
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Pursuant to rule XXII, the Chair lays before
the Senate the pending cloture motion, which the clerk will state.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
Cloture Motion
We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the
provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate,
do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to
proceed to Calendar No. 413, S. 4445, a bill to protect and
expand nationwide access to fertility treatment, including in
vitro fertilization.
Charles E. Schumer, Tammy Duckworth, Richard Blumenthal,
Alex Padilla, Tammy Baldwin, Tim Kaine, Richard J.
Durbin, Jeanne Shaheen, Benjamin L. Cardin, Debbie
Stabenow, Patty Murray, Catherine Cortez Masto, Tina
Smith, Elizabeth Warren, Sheldon Whitehouse, Kirsten E.
Gillibrand, Christopher Murphy.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the mandatory quorum
call has been waived.
The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate that debate on the
motion to proceed to Calendar No. 413, S. 4445, a bill to protect and
expand nationwide access to fertility treatment, including in vitro
fertilization, shall be brought to a close?
The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule.
The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from California (Ms. Butler),
the Senator from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez), the Senator from Vermont
(Mr. Sanders), and the Senator from Arizona (Ms. Sinema) are
necessarily absent.
Mr. THUNE. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator
from Missouri (Mr. Schmitt).
Further, if present and voting: the Senator from Missouri (Mr.
Schmitt) would have voted ``nay.''
The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 48, nays 47, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 197 Leg.]
YEAS--48
Baldwin
Bennet
Blumenthal
Booker
Brown
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Collins
Coons
Cortez Masto
Duckworth
Durbin
Fetterman
Gillibrand
Hassan
Heinrich
Hickenlooper
Hirono
Kaine
Kelly
King
Klobuchar
Lujan
Manchin
Markey
Merkley
Murkowski
Murphy
Murray
Ossoff
Padilla
Peters
Reed
Rosen
Schatz
Shaheen
Smith
Stabenow
Tester
Van Hollen
Warner
Warnock
Warren
Welch
Whitehouse
Wyden
NAYS--47
Barrasso
Blackburn
Boozman
Braun
Britt
Budd
Capito
Cassidy
Cornyn
Cotton
Cramer
Crapo
Cruz
Daines
Ernst
Fischer
Graham
Grassley
Hagerty
Hawley
Hoeven
Hyde-Smith
Johnson
Kennedy
Lankford
Lee
Lummis
Marshall
McConnell
Moran
Mullin
Paul
Ricketts
Risch
Romney
Rounds
Rubio
Schumer
Scott (FL)
Scott (SC)
Sullivan
Thune
Tillis
Tuberville
Vance
Wicker
Young
NOT VOTING--5
Butler
Menendez
Sanders
Schmitt
Sinema
(Mr. MERKLEY assumed the Chair.)
(Mr. WHITEHOUSE assumed the Chair.)
(Mr. CARPER assumed the Chair.)
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Smith). On this vote, the yeas are 48, the
nays are 47.
Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn not having voted
in the affirmative, the motion was rejected.
Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, for everyone's awareness, I am changing
my vote on this bill, from yes to no, in order to have the option of
returning to this legislation later. We hope some of our colleagues on
the other side of the aisle will see the light and change their minds.
Motion to Reconsider
Madam President, I enter a motion to reconsider the failed cloture
vote with respect to the motion to proceed to Calendar No. 413, S.
4445.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The motion is entered.
____________________