{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.duckworth.senate.gov/news/press-releases/duckworth-schumer-murray-booker-and-senate-democrats-urge-senate-republicans-to-pass-duckworths-right-to-ivf-act-make-it-easier-to-access-ivf-nationwide", "Duckworth, Schumer, Murray, Booker & Senate Democrats Urge Senate Republicans to Pass Duckworth\u2019s Right to IVF Act, Make It Easier to Access IVF Nationwide", "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", "Duckworth, Schumer, Murray, Booker & Senate Democrats Urge Senate Republicans to Pass Duckworth\u2019s Right to IVF Act, Make It Easier to Access IVF Nationwide\n\n[WASHINGTON, D.C.] \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Cory Booker (D-NJ) and other Senate Democrats on the Senate Steps to urge Senate Republicans to pass Senator Duckworth\u2019s Right to IVF Act when it comes to the floor for a vote today. This renewed effort comes after Donald Trump promised that the federal government would cover IVF if he is re-elected and represents a second chance for Senate Republicans to pass this pro-freedom, pro-family legislation and actually do something that would make it easier for Americans struggling with infertility to access IVF. In June, Senate Republicans blocked the Right to IVF Act, which would require health insurers to cover IVF\u2014as well as 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 and the full press conference can be found on the Senator\u2019s Twitter/X page. Photos of the press conference are available on Senator Duckworth\u2019s website.\n\n\u201cIf Donald Trump\u2014the self-proclaimed \u2018leader of fertilization\u2019 despite being the reason IVF is at risk in the first place\u2014really wants IVF to be covered, now is the time for him to prove it,\u201d said Senator Duckworth. \u201cNow is the time for him to call on Senate Republicans to pass my Right to IVF Act today so we can protect IVF nationwide while making it easier for Veterans and middle class families to access the fertility treatment they need. The American people know by now we have to watch what Trump and Republicans do, not what they say. It\u2019s past time for Senate Republicans to put their votes where their mouths are.\u201d\n\n\u201cFrom the moment the MAGA Supreme Court eliminated Roe, the hard right made it clear that they would stop at nothing to limit choice and take away a woman\u2019s right to her own reproductive freedom. Now, conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation have spoken plainly and clearly that IVF is their next target,\u201d said Leader Schumer. \u201cToday, the Senate will once again vote on the Right to IVF Act. If Senate Republicans vote no today, and strike IVF protections down yet again, it will be further proof that Project 2025 is alive and well. Republicans claim they are pro-family; well there is nothing more pro-family than IVF. I urge our Republican colleagues to allow us to get on this bill and codify the right to this vital protection.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe only reason IVF is in jeopardy is because Donald Trump overturned Roe v. Wade,\u201d said Senator Murray. \u201cRepublicans are willing to say they support IVF but aren\u2019t willing to vote for it and aren\u2019t even willing to disavow fetal personhood. Republicans in Congress are playing the same game as Trump: posturing as pro-family while voting down this bill to help families grow, pretending to support IVF while championing fetal personhood. Despite Republicans\u2019 record, their empty claims about IVF support are only getting more and more brazen. If Republicans are serious about supporting IVF and if Trump\u2019s promise to help families pay for it is more than bluster, there is no reason we can\u2019t pass this bill into law and help a lot of people. Republicans need to realize that families have been listening to what they say\u2014and today they are going to be watching how they vote.\u201d\n\n\u201cToday is a second chance for the Senate to pass the Right to IVF Act and protect the fundamental freedom to grow and start a family for every single American,\u201d said Senator Booker. \u201cExtreme court rulings across our country have continued to show us that reproductive freedoms and access to IVF treatments are in grave danger. In June, the GOP blocked this comprehensive bill and denied countless families the opportunity and right to make a personal decision about starting a family. I urge my Republican colleagues in the Senate to reconsider and join us today to pass this package of bills to protect IVF in America.\u201d\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 IVF.\n\nThe only reason there are PB&Js for me to make.\n\nThe only reason there are tiny sneakers for me to Velcro.\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\nBut now, thanks to Donald Trump, that right to get reproductive care is at risk for millions of women across this country.\n\nLook, I doubt that Trump even knows what the acronym \u201cIVF\u201d stands for. Half the time I wonder if he can even spell \u201cIVF.\u201d\n\nBut despite the incoherent, delusional, frankly embarrassing ramblings that came out of his mouth last week, he is the reason IVF is at risk in the first place.\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 to blame\u2014he and every other Republican who cares more about staying good with Trump than about doing good for the Americans they serve.\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\nListen, I\u2019m sure that some of my Republican colleagues are gonna run to the nearest camera to claim that their actions have simply been misunderstood.\n\nWell, to those colleagues, I say that today\u2019s vote is your chance to put your vote where your mouth is.\n\nTo prove you believe that every woman in this country deserves the chance to be called \u201cmama\u201d without also being called a criminal.\n\nBecause look, 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\u2019m not asking Republicans to head into combat to show that they care deeply, too.\n\nI\u2019m not asking them to do anything difficult at all, actually.\n\nAll I\u2019m asking of them is to simply support this bill that could represent millions of women\u2019s only chance of starting a family.\n\nAll I\u2019m asking of them is to vote in a way that reflects the position they claim to have when they\u2019re spouting talking points on cable news.\n\nWith that, I\u2019ll hand it over.\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-schumer-murray-booker-and-senate-democrats-urge-senate-republicans-to-pass-duckworths-right-to-ivf-act-make-it-easier-to-access-ivf-nationwide"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.7693770825862885, "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"}