FILE - Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., speaks about a bill to establish federal protections for IVF during a press event on Capitol Hill, Feb. 27, 2024, in Washington. Duckworth, who has used the fertility treatment to have her two children, released the legislation Monday, June 3, 2024, part of an election-year effort to spotlight Republican resistance to protecting reproductive care.
After Roe v. Wade was overturned, questions on reproductive care have mostly been turned over to individual states. For a time earlier this year,IVF treatment after the state's Supreme Court ruled frozen embryos can be considered children under state law. The state later enacted afor IVF clinics, but Democrats have argued that Congress should act to guarantee nationwide access to reproductive care like IVF and contraception.
Meanwhile, GOP Sens. Katie Britt of Alabama and Ted Cruz of Texas have advanced a proposal that would threaten to withhold federal Medicaid funding from any state that would enact an outright ban on IVF treatment. Schumer has said Democrats intend to “spend a significant amount of time talking about reproductive rights” this month. As part of that push, Duckworth, alongside fellow Democrats Sens. Patty Murray of Washington and Cory Booker of New Jersey, introduced legislation that packages four previous bills on IVF together.