Democrats are daring Republicans to put their money where their mouth is by actually backing legislation to protect in vitro fertilization after an Alabama Supreme Court ruling restricted access to the procedure in the state.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth announced that on Wednesday she will attempt to pass her bill to protect IVF and other fertility treatments via unanimous consent. “If you truly care about the sanctity of families, and you’re genuinely, actually, honestly interested in protecting IVF, then you need to show it by not blocking this bill on the floor,” she said of Republicans at a press conference Tuesday.
Donald Trump and other Republicans last week scrambled to issue public statements expressing their support for IVF after the Alabama Supreme Court ruling, which stated that frozen embryos “are children.” But few have actually backed efforts to protect access to IVF, which Democrats warned could be limited after Roe v. Wade was overturned. Republicans blocked Duckworth’s effort in 2022 to create federal protections for IVF amid concerns that they’d be affected in the post-Roe era.