{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.booker.senate.gov/news/press/booker-senate-democrats-urge-republicans-to-help-pass-legislative-package-to-establish-a-nationwide-right-to-ivf-and-lower-ivf-costs-for-families", "Booker, Senate Democrats Urge Republicans to Help Pass Legislative Package to Establish a Nationwide Right to IVF and Lower IVF Costs for Families", "2024-06-12", "2024", "2024-06", "Democrat", "Senate", "NJ", "Cory A. Booker", "B001288", "www.booker.senate.gov", "booker", "https://www.booker.senate.gov/news/press", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Ahead of the Senate vote on their Right to IVF Act, U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and Patty Murray (D-WA) joined IVF patients, providers and advocates in coordination with RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) to underscore the importance of passing their pro-family, pro-freedom legislation to protect and strengthen IVF for all Americans as Republicans continue their anti-choice, anti-science crusade. In their remarks, the Senate Democrats called on Senate Republicans who claim to support IVF to prove it by helping pass the Right to IVF Act tomorrow that would both establish a nationwide right to IVF and other assisted reproductive technology (ART) as well as lower the costs of IVF treatment for those who struggle with infertility.\n\n\u201cIn the wake of the Supreme Court\u2019s disastrous decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, we must recommit ourselves to protecting reproductive freedoms and Americans\u2019 right to make their own medical decisions,\u201d said Senator Booker. \u201cExtreme court rulings have made it crystal clear that access to IVF treatments are under threat across America, which is why I urge my Republican colleagues to join us and pass this comprehensive package of bills that will ensure that the freedom to start and grow a family is protected and accessible to everyone in the United States.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn the nearly two years since the Supreme Court threw out Roe v. Wade, our nation has seen the horrific consequences of Republicans\u2019 anti-science, anti-woman crusade that has put IVF at risk for millions of Americans who rely on it to start or grow their family\u2014and we know Alabama was only the beginning,\u201d said Senator Duckworth. \u201cIt\u2019s simple: if Republicans really want to support IVF like they so desperately claim to\u2014and that they\u2019re literally campaigning on\u2014then they should help us pass our Right to IVF Act tomorrow. Unlike their so-called \u2018IVF Protection\u2019 bill, our pro-family, pro-freedom legislation would actually protect access to IVF, expand IVF coverage for Veterans and make it easier to afford fertility care for all Americans who rely on this treatment to build the families of their dreams.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe all saw the chaos and heartbreak caused when the Alabama Supreme Court upended IVF access, and today, the threat is not gone\u2014because Republican leaders continue to support the Life at Conception Act that would make fetal personhood the law of the land and take the crisis we saw in Alabama nationwide,\u201d said Senator Murray. \u201cMeanwhile, Republicans' bill to allegedly \u2018protect\u2019 IVF wouldn\u2019t do anything to stop these attacks\u2014in fact it explicitly allows states to enact restrictions and burdensome requirements that would force IVF clinics to close their doors. The GOP bill is nothing but a PR stunt\u2014providing cover for Republicans to keep pretending they are not trying to control women\u2019s bodies. If Republicans truly want to protect IVF in a meaningful way, I hope they will join us in voting for the Right to IVF Act, which will protect the right to IVF and lower IVF costs for families\u2014including our servicemembers and veterans, who should never have to sacrifice their ability to start their families.\u201d\n\nFollowing the Senators\u2019 remarks at the press conference, IVF patient advocates Jamie Heard, Julie Eshelman and Luisa Lopez with RESOLVE shared their own personal experiences with IVF and the barriers they have faced in access to fertility care. Dr. Amanda Adeleye\u2014who was Senator Duckworth\u2019s State of the Union guest earlier this year\u2014highlighted the importance of ensuring doctors are protected from prosecution or criminalization when meeting the needs of their patients to help them build the families of their dreams.\n\nThe Right to IVF Act is supported by RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, ASRM, AllPaths Family Building, American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), American Atheists, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American Society for Reproductive Medicine, California LGBTQ Health and Human Services Network, Endocrine Society, Equality California, Families USA, GLMA: Health, Professionals Advancing LGBTQ+ Equality, Guttmacher Institute, Hadassah, The Women\u2019s Zionist Organization of America, Human Rights Campaign, In Our Own Voice: National Black Women\u2019s Reproductive Justice Agenda, Indivisible, Justice + Joy National Collaborative, Legal Momentum, Military Family Building Coalition, MomsRising, National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum (NAPAWF), National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women\u2019s Health, National Center for Lesbian Rights, National Council on Jewish Women, National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund, National LGBTQ+ Bar Association, National Partnership for Women and Families, National Women\u2019s Political Caucus, Physicians for Reproductive Health, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL), Service Women\u2019s Action Network, Silver State Equality, Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, Society for Male Reproduction and Urology, Society for Reproductive Biologists and Technologists, Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, Society for Reproductive Surgery, What to Expect Project, Women's March\n\n\u201cAs one of the hundreds of families impacted by the Alabama Supreme Court ruling earlier this year, I stand on Capitol Hill\u2019s steps to call on Congress to pass the Right to IVF Act,\u201d said Jamie Heard, patient advocate from Birmingham, Alabama. \u201cIn February, the future of my family was put on pause as fertility centers across the state withheld fertility treatments over legal risks. Now, a band aid fix has re-opened clinics, but it\u2019s only a matter of time before our care is at risk again. I call on Congress to support those who have dreams of building a family and pass this legislation to protect IVF at the federal level.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am so grateful to Senators Duckworth, Murray and Booker for proposing the Right to IVF Act,\u201d said Julie Eshelman, patient advocate from Pennsylvania. \u201cAs a military wife, I know the sacrifices of going through fertility treatments far too intimately, as I\u2019ve waited for referrals and waitlists at fertility clinics throughout our past five moves over 7 years. We\u2019ve paid out of pocket for the costly treatments as TRICARE \u2014 the plan provided to military families \u2014 doesn\u2019t cover them, and we have experienced the emotional and physical exhaustion IVF brings. I urge Congress to pass this legislation and make family building easier for military families and all Americans.\u201d\n\n\u201cAs a reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist in Illinois, I have had the opportunity to treat people from all walks of life. One patient I will always remember had breast cancer. The chemotherapy to treat her cancer was expected to damage her ovaries and end her chances of having a genetically related family. Using IVF, I was able to help her freeze her embryos so she was able to have a child when she survived her cancer, which she thankfully ultimately did,\u201d said Dr. Amanda Adeleye from Illinois. \u201cI teared up with tears of joy that day when she came back to my office a couple years later, after she was in remission from her cancer and ready to start a family with the embryos she froze. She represented exactly what I came here to do: to help people in need and build their families. But politicians simply do not know better than citizens or highly trained doctors what kind of medical care should be available. By passing the Right to IVF Act, we would help ensure that medical decisions are made by patients\u2014in consultation with their physicians\u2014not by judges, by politicians, or by bureaucrats.\u201d\n\n\u201cHaving access to the fertility treatments necessary to build a family should be a protected right for everyone,\u201d said Luisa Lopez, a patient advocate from New York. \u201cMy family has experienced the heartbreak and financial strain of IVF treatments, involving eight IVF cycles and two miscarriages. Without insurance coverage, this can be an expensive process that not everyone is able to afford, but price shouldn\u2019t be a determining factor in anyone\u2019s family building journey. The Right to IVF Act would open opportunities for families nationwide to fulfill their dreams of having children, and I urge lawmakers to pass this legislation.\u201d\n\n\u201cFamily building is a bipartisan issue and IVF is wildly popular, with support from 85% of the public,\u201d said Barbara Collura, president and CEO of RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association. \u201cWe are grateful for the leadership of Senators Duckworth, Murray and Booker for introducing the Right to IVF Act, the most comprehensive legislative package we\u2019ve seen yet to protect IVF and expand access to care through insurance. We urge Senators to pass this critical legislation.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe are grateful to Majority Leader Schumer for bringing this measure to the floor and Senators Murray, Duckworth, and Booker for their tireless advocacy on behalf of Americans who need the expert medical care of our members,\u201d said Elizabeth Ginsburg, MD, President-elect of American Society for Reproductive Medicine. \u201cToo often, reproduction is singled out, and those who suffer from reproductive disorders are discriminated against. Too many patients are unable to access the treatments they need because political activists have targeted their disease. It is an honor for us to be here today to stand with our champions as they fight for our patients.\u201d\n\nBuilding on the lawmakers\u2019 previous efforts to protect and strengthen access to IVF, the Right to IVF Act\u2014which heads to the Senate floor for a vote tomorrow\u2014includes:\n\nSenator Booker\u2019s Access to Infertility Treatment and Care Act, which would increase affordability of fertility care\u2014including IVF\u2014by requiring employer-sponsored insurance plans and other public insurance plans to cover fertility treatments. Additionally, it would standardize a baseline of high-quality fertility treatment coverage under private health insurance plans, while protecting Americans against excessive out-of-pocket costs.\n\nSenator Duckworth\u2019s Access to Family Building Act, which would establish a nationwide right for patients to access IVF and other ART services, a right for doctors to provide IVF treatment in accordance with medical standards as well as a right for insurance carriers to cover IVF without prohibition, limitation, interference or impediment. By establishing a statutory right, this would pre-empt any state effort to limit such access and ensuring no hopeful parent\u2014or their doctors\u2014are punished for trying to start or grow a family.\n\nIn February, Senator Duckworth sought unanimous consent to pass this legislation and Republican U.S. Senator of Mississippi Cindy Hyde-Smith blocked it.\n\nSenator Murray\u2019s Veteran Families Health Services Act, which would expand the fertility treatments and family-building services that are covered under servicemembers\u2019 and Veterans\u2019 health care to include\u2014among other things\u2014the option for individuals to cryopreserve their gametes (freeze their eggs or sperm) ahead of deployment to a combat zone and in vitro fertilization (IVF) for servicemembers and veterans who are unable to conceive without assistance.\n\nIn March, Senator Murray sought unanimous consent to pass this legislation and Republican U.S. Senator of Oklahoma James Lankford blocked it.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:11:47Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.booker.senate.gov/news/press/booker-senate-democrats-urge-republicans-to-help-pass-legislative-package-to-establish-a-nationwide-right-to-ivf-and-lower-ivf-costs-for-families"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.507465960457921, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}