{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.duckworth.senate.gov/news/press-releases/duckworth-excoriates-senate-gop-after-they-again-block-her-bill-to-protect-ivf-and-lower-costs-for-families-despite-republicans-claims-of-ivf-support", "Duckworth Excoriates Senate GOP After They Again Block Her Bill to Protect IVF and Lower Costs for Families, Despite Republicans\u2019 Claims of IVF Support", "2024-09-17", "2024", "2024-09", "Democrat", "Senate", "IL", "Tammy Duckworth", "D000622", "www.duckworth.senate.gov", "duckworth", "https://www.duckworth.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "This is the second time Senate Republicans blocked Duckworth\u2019s Right to IVF Act and the fourth time they blocked Duckworth-led legislation to protect IVF access nationwide\n\n[WASHINGTON, D.C.] \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) called out Senate Republicans\u2019 hypocrisy on the Senate floor after they once again blocked her Right to IVF Act\u2014which they first blocked in June\u2014while continuing to falsely claim that they support IVF. The Senate GOP\u2019s disheartening decision to block the pro-freedom, pro-family legislation a second time comes after Donald Trump promised that the federal government would cover IVF if he is re-elected and proves that Republicans have no interest in actually doing something that would make it easier for Americans struggling with infertility to access IVF. The Right to IVF Act would require health insurers to cover IVF and would establish a nationwide right for hopeful parents to access IVF and other assisted reproductive technology (ART). A video of Senator Duckworth\u2019s remarks is available on YouTube.\n\nKey quotes:\n\nAfter 10 years of struggling with infertility after being wounded in combat, I was only able to have my two girls through the medical marvel that is IVF. The only reason there are PB&Js for me to make\u2026 the only reason there are only tiny sneakers for me to Velcro\u2026 is because after I came home from war, I had the freedom to seek the health care I needed to make my dream of going from \u201cTammy\u201d to \u201cmommy\u201d a reality.\n\nI doubt that Donald Trump even knows what the acronym \u201cIVF\u201d stands for. Half the time I wonder if he can even spell \u201cIVF.\u201d But despite the incoherent, delusional, frankly embarrassing ramblings that came out of his mouth last week, the reality is that he is the reason IVF is at risk in the first place. The Dobbs decision is what led us to today\u2019s nightmare, taking the power to decide how and when to start families from us women and handing it to politicians in state houses across the country.\n\nI went to war to defend this nation\u2019s rights and freedoms. I did it because I believed so deeply in the importance of that mission. I wasn\u2019t asking my GOP colleagues to head into combat to show that they cared deeply, too. I wasn\u2019t asking them to do anything hard at all, actually. All I was asking of them was simply to support a bill that could\u2019ve represented millions of women\u2019s only chance of starting families. All I was asking of them was to vote in a way that reflected the position they claimed to have when they were spouting talking points on Fox News. They couldn\u2019t even do that. So on behalf of every woman who has faced the heart-shattering struggle of infertility, all I can say to my Republican colleagues this afternoon is: Shame. On. You.\n\nSenator Duckworth\u2019s remarks as prepared are below:\n\nThis morning, I got to pack my daughters\u2019 lunchboxes.\n\nIt sounds mundane, I know.\n\nBut when I spend just a second thinking about it, even that kind of everyday moment with my girls isn\u2019t mundane at all.\n\nIt\u2019s a miracle.\n\nBecause after 10 years of struggling with infertility after being wounded in combat, I was only able to have my two girls through the medical marvel that is IVF.\n\nThe only reason there are PB&Js for me to make\u2026\n\nThe only reason there are only tiny sneakers for me to Velcro\u2026\n\nIs because after I came home from war, I had the freedom to seek the health care I needed to make my dream of going from \u201cTammy\u201d to \u201cmommy\u201d a reality.\n\nI was one of the lucky ones.\n\nBecause now, that freedom to get reproductive care is at risk for millions of other women whose most desperate hope in the world is to have a little one of their own.\n\nMake no mistake: That isn\u2019t some future nightmare. This is our present reality.\n\nCountless women already had their IVF treatments interrupted this year after an Alabama State Supreme Court ruling painted women seeking fertility treatment as criminals.\n\nAnd in this perilous moment for our country\u2026 as we stare down November and all the uncertainties that come with it\u2026 there\u2019s no telling how many more will follow.\n\nLook, I doubt that Donald Trump even knows what the acronym \u201cIVF\u201d stands for.\n\nHalf the time I wonder if he can even spell \u201cIVF.\u201d\n\nBut despite the incoherent\u2026 delusional\u2026 frankly embarrassing ramblings that came out of his mouth last week, the reality is that he is the reason IVF is at risk in the first place.\n\nThe Dobbs decision is what led us to today\u2019s nightmare, taking the power to decide how and when to start families from us women and handing it to politicians in state houses across the country.\n\nDonald Trump is the one who brags about taking down Roe.\n\nDonald Trump is the one who acts like that\u2019s something to be proud of.\n\nHe\u2019s like a bank robber who steals cash out of the till and flees the scene, then still expects a reward for calling the police to report a crime.\n\nSo while it may now be convenient for him to claim that his support of IVF is as huge as the made-up crowd sizes at his rallies, we know the truth:\n\nHe is the reason that IVF is in danger.\n\nHe is to blame\u2014he and every other Republican who cares more about staying good with Trump than about doing good for the Americans they are supposed to serve.\n\nMany\u2026 too many\u2026 of those Republicans are in this very chamber.\n\nI know that because today marked the THIRD time in the past seven months that I\u2019ve come to the floor begging my Republican colleagues to help me pass legislation I wrote that\u2019d protect every American\u2019s right to IVF, regardless of what state they live in\u2026\n\nA bill that\u2019d ensure no doctor or hopeful mom could be criminalized for trying to start a family\u2026\n\nOne that would permit all health insurers to cover the treatments\u2026\n\nAnd one that would require the federal health insurance plan to cover reproductive technologies, allowing our troops to preserve their sperm or eggs before deploying to a combat zone.\n\nWhen I tried to pass it in February, it took the junior Republican Senator from Mississippi what seemed like not even one full \u201cMississippi\u201d second to block its passage.\n\nThen, when I tried to pass it again in June, nearly every GOP member voted it down.\n\nToday, it was the same old cynical story, as Republican after Republican voted \u201cno,\u201d \u201cno,\u201d \u201cno.\u201d\n\nAt this point, it\u2019s obvious:\n\nDespite whatever talking points they force through gritted teeth on cable news\u2026 when the rubber hits the road and the vote is called\u2026 Republicans will do anything to get out of actually passing legislation that would protect women\u2019s right to access reproductive care.\n\nWomen in this country have been through enough.\n\nWhat women don\u2019t need is a man who was found liable for sexual abuse controlling what we can or can\u2019t do with our bodies.\n\nWhat we don\u2019t need are politicians who have sworn fealty to a convicted felon treating us like we\u2019re the ones who are criminals.\n\nIt\u2019s tragic.\n\nRepublicans only seem to care about protecting life when it supposedly consists of some cells in a medical lab freezer.\n\nBut what about when that life is a fifth-grader\u2019s, whose school day gets shattered by a man with an AR-15 who wants to turn math class into a massacre?\n\nWhat about when that life is their neighbor\u2019s, who is yet one more woman to bleed out on the delivery table, as the maternal mortality crisis among women of color rages on?\n\nWell, then those same Republicans couldn\u2019t seem to care less about defending the sanctity of life.\n\nListen, I\u2019m sure that some of my colleagues will try to slink away from taking any accountability here.\n\nPer usual, they\u2019ll shout some ridiculous excuse, like that this bill would allow for human-animal hybrids, as if anyone would ever believe that.\n\nWell, to those folks, I say that this afternoon\u2019s vote was your chance to put your vote where your mouth is\u2026\n\nIt was your chance to prove that you believe that every woman in this country deserves the chance to be called \u201cmama\u201d without also being called a criminal.\n\nInstead, your true policy beliefs\u2026 your hypocrisy\u2026 your misogyny\u2026 showed through.\n\nLook, I went to war to defend this nation\u2019s rights and freedoms.\n\nI did it because I believed so deeply in the importance of that mission.\n\nI wasn\u2019t asking my GOP colleagues to head into combat to show that they cared deeply, too.\n\nI wasn\u2019t asking them to do anything hard at all, actually.\n\nAll I was asking of them was simply to support a bill that could\u2019ve represented millions of women\u2019s only chance of starting families.\n\nAll I was asking of them was to vote in a way that reflected the position they claimed to have when they were spouting talking points on Fox News.\n\nThey couldn\u2019t even do that.\n\nSo on behalf of every woman who has faced the heart-shattering struggle of infertility, all I can say to my Republican colleagues this afternoon is:\n\nShame. On. You.\n\n-30-", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:46:43Z"]], "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.duckworth.senate.gov/news/press-releases/duckworth-excoriates-senate-gop-after-they-again-block-her-bill-to-protect-ivf-and-lower-costs-for-families-despite-republicans-claims-of-ivf-support"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.04082515463233, "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"}