{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.duckworth.senate.gov/news/press-releases/duckworth-schumer-murray-booker-slam-republican-hypocrisy-after-senate-gop-again-blocks-their-bill-to-protect-ivf-and-lower-costs-for-families-despite-republicans-claims-of-ivf-support", "Duckworth, Schumer, Murray, Booker Slam Republican Hypocrisy After Senate GOP Again Blocks Their 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, who claim to be \u201cpro-IVF,\u201d blocked the Right to IVF Act\n\n[WASHINGTON, D.C.] \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) called out Senate Republicans\u2019 hypocrisy after nearly every single Republican blocked the Senate Democrats\u2019 Right to IVF Act\u2014now the second time they\u2019ve done so after first blocking the bill in June\u2014despite them publicly claiming to support IVF for the millions of Americans who rely on it to build their families. This was Senate Republicans\u2019 second chance to pass this pro-family, pro-freedom legislative package that would both establish a right to IVF and other assisted reproductive technology (ART), expand access for hopeful parents, Veterans and federal employees, as well as lower the costs of IVF for middle class families across the country. In June, Duckworth slammed Senate Republicans for blocking her previous legislation to protect IVF access after the Alabama Supreme Court ruling shut down state clinics and painted IVF parents and their doctors as criminals. After doing the same thing today, the Senate GOP once again proved that their public \u201csupport for IVF\u201d is nothing but a ruse to mislead voters\u2014which Senator Duckworth highlighted in her floor remarks today.\n\n\u201cToday\u2019s vote was Senate Republicans\u2019 chance to put their vote where their mouths are\u2014but instead, their true policy beliefs, hypocrisy and misogyny showed through,\u201d said Senator Duckworth. \u201cBy blocking my Right to IVF Act for the second time in just a few months, Republicans proved that when the rubber meets the road they will do anything to get out of actually passing legislation that would protect women\u2019s right to access reproductive care. On behalf of every woman who has faced the heart-shattering struggle of infertility, all I can say to my Republican colleagues is: Shame on you.\u201d\n\n\u201cRepublicans cannot claim to care about supporting families while voting against protections for IVF, but for the second time this year, they did just that,\u201d said Leader Schumer. \u201cInstead of standing with families struggling with infertility, they stood with Project 2025, showing once again just how strong a chokehold this extreme agenda has on Senate Republicans. Senate Democrats will not stop fighting to protect reproductive rights and access to IVF.\u201d\n\n\u201cTrump doesn\u2019t get credit for opposing a problem that he caused in the first place, especially when his party\u2014the party he leads\u2014won\u2019t let us solve it,\u201d said Senator Murray. \u201cThe entire country just saw, plain as day, that Donald Trump is lying again and that nothing has changed for Republicans since they overturned Roe v. Wade. Nothing has changed for Republicans despite Trump\u2019s imaginary leadership on IVF. But Democrats are not going to stop pushing and I have a message for my Republican colleagues who think they can talk about this issue, make big promises to desperate families\u2014like Trump\u2019s promise to cover IVF treatment\u2014and then fail to follow through: that promise may just be an empty soundbite to Donald Trump, but it is so personal to families, and those families have been listening to your words, they saw how you voted today, and they will not forget it.\u201d\n\n\u201cFor a second time this summer, Senate Republicans voted to deny American families the fundamental right to make their own decisions about starting a family,\u201d said Senator Booker. \u201cI am disappointed to see the Right to IVF Act fail today and am disappointed that the majority of Senate Republicans voted against a legislative package to protect IVF despite publicly claiming over and over again that they support IVF. Democrats will continue fighting for all Americans\u2019 reproductive freedom and advocate for comprehensive reproductive health care that is affordable, accessible, and safe. The American people deserve that.\u201d\n\nAhead of today\u2019s vote on their Right to IVF Act, Senators Duckworth, Schumer, Murray and Booker joined Senate Democrats for a press conference to underscore the urgent need to pass the Right to IVF Act as Republicans continue their anti-choice, anti-science crusade. Earlier this year, Senators Duckworth and Murray released the following fact sheet that outlines the very real and growing threat Republican lawmakers in Congress and across the country are posing to IVF and other ART.\n\nBuilding on the lawmakers\u2019 previous efforts to protect and strengthen access to IVF, the Right to IVF Act includes updated and enhanced versions of:\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. 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. Republican U.S. Senator of Oklahoma James Lankford blocked it.\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 Family Building FEHB Fairness Act, which would require Federal Employees Health Benefit (FEHB) Program\u2014the largest employer-sponsored health insurance plan in the world\u2014carriers to cover IVF and ART to help more hardworking Americans start and grow their families.\n\nThroughout her time in the Senate, Duckworth has made protecting reproductive freedom and expanding access to IVF top priorities in the face of Republicans\u2019 anti-choice crusade. When Senator Hyde-Smith blocked Senator Duckworth\u2019s Access to Family Building Act from passing through unanimous consent, this was the second time Senate Republicans blocked Duckworth-led legislation that would protect access to IVF nationwide. The Access to Family Building Act builds on previous legislation she introduced in 2022.\n\nMeanwhile, while Senate Democrats continue their efforts to protect IVF and reproductive freedom, Senate Republicans continue to make it clear that they want to further undermine access to basic healthcare for millions of Americans. Duckworth condemned the so-called \u201cIVF Protection\u201d bill led by U.S. Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Katie Britt (R-AL) that wouldn\u2019t do anything to protect IVF, but actually incentivize state legislatures to both ban IVF and defund Medicaid at the same time\u2014unpopular, extreme policies that far-right Republican policymakers have sought to do for decades.\n\nDuckworth was the first Senator to give birth while serving in office and had both of her children with the help of IVF. In 2018, she advocated for the Senate to change its rules so she could bring her infant onto the Senate floor.\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-slam-republican-hypocrisy-after-senate-gop-again-blocks-their-bill-to-protect-ivf-and-lower-costs-for-families-despite-republicans-claims-of-ivf-support"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5713570173829794, "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"}