Feb. 27 (UPI) — A senator who has used in vitro fertilization for two of her own children said Tuesday she is bringing a bill to the Senate floor to federally protect the IVF process amid a recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling that threatens the procedure.
On Wednesday, Illinois Democrat Tammy Duckworth will call for a unanimous consent Senate vote — which a single sitting senator out of 100 could thwart — as congressional leaders make efforts to demonstrate their support for IVF procedures.
Duckworth’s bill would protect, she said, “every American’s right to become a parent via treatments like IVF.”
“Don’t just listen to my Republican colleagues,” she said Tuesday afternoon during a press event regarding her bill. “Listen to the people that they support.”
Joining Duckworth as a co-sponsor, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said, “You cannot support IVF and support fetal personhood laws. They are fundamentally incompatible.”
Murray added, “You are not fooling anyone.”
Duckworth — a war veteran whose two daughters were born through IVF — said Thursday on social media that Republicans are “working to rip away the right to grow a family from others.”
This comes as Alabama lawmakers have sought in recent days to create legislation that protects IVF treatments after a recent 7-2 state Supreme Court ruling that said that frozen fertilized embryos qualify as children under Alabama law.
Duckworth noted on Tuesday how former President Donald Trump — the presumed frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination — “suddenly supports IVF after crowing and claiming and taking credit for the fall of Roe v. Wade.”
On Tuesday, it was unclear if any senator intends to block the unanimous consent vote.
Duckworth said she was confident in her assumption that the Alabama high-court ruling means, “If we don’t act now, it will only get worse.”
However, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., stated that while there is “uncertainty among practitioners,” he told reporters he believes “no threat to IVF” currently exists that would require any action by Congress.
Come Wednesday, Duckworth said, “Let’s find out tomorrow if any Republicans show up to block the unanimous consent.”
