{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.heinrich.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/heinrich-highlights-importance-of-ivf-in-new-mexico-slams-republicans-for-once-again-blocking-legislation-to-protect-access-to-ivf", "Heinrich Highlights Importance of IVF in New Mexico; Slams Republicans for Once Again Blocking Legislation to Protect Access to IVF", "2024-09-17", "2024", "2024-09", "Democrat", "Senate", "NM", "Martin Heinrich", "H001046", "www.heinrich.senate.gov", "heinrich", "https://www.heinrich.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "\u201cRepublicans are using their position of power to tell people when, how, or with whom to start their families. Shame on them.\u201d\n\nPHOTOS\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) released the following statement after Senate Republicans once again blocked the passage of the Right to IVF Act, legislation he introduced as an original cosponsor to establish a nationwide right to in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and other assisted reproductive technology (ART). The legislation would also lower the costs of IVF treatment for millions of families, veterans, and service members.\n\n\u201cOnce again, Senate Republicans have blocked legislation that would protect families\u2019 freedom to start and grow a family with IVF. Republicans are using their position of power to tell people when, how, and with whom to start their families. Shame on them.\n\n\u201cSince the radical conservative majority on the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade,we\u2019ve seen Republican extremists in state legislatures across the country enact draconian abortion bans and go after Americans\u2019 access to contraception and IVF.\n\n\u201cLet me be clear: I will never stop fighting to safeguard New Mexicans\u2019 freedom to access reproductive health care. I will use every tool at my disposal to reinstate the protections provided by Roe v. Wade, and combat extreme Republican laws aimed at stripping away access to IVF, contraception, and abortion care.\u201d\n\nHeinrich lifts up an image of Albuquerque residents Erin Stopani and David Duniven during a press conference on the need to pass the Right to IVF Act. Erin and David are building their family with the help of IVF and are expecting the birth of their daughter in January 2025. More images of the Senator attending today\u2019s press conference can be found here.\n\nHeinrich remains unwavering in his commitment to protect women\u2019s reproductive freedoms.\n\nIn February, after the Alabama State Supreme Court issued a ruling that threatened access to IVF treatment, Heinrich cosponsored the Access to Family Building Act, legislation that would protect every American\u2019s right to access IVF and other assisted reproductive technology services that millions need to have children. This legislation is now included as part of the broader Right to IVF Act \u2014 which Heinrich introduced alongside U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), and Cory Booker (D-N.J.).\n\nHeinrich is also an original cosponsor of the Right to Contraception Act, legislation which would guarantee that people can obtain and health professionals can provide contraceptives \u2013 free from government interference. Senate Republicans blocked the passage of the Right to Contraception Act.\n\nIn May, Heinrich, Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that oversees funding for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), defended the safety of Mifepristone at a hearing he chaired, with FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf testifying.\n\nIn March, Heinrich introduced the Abortion Care Capacity Enhancement and Support Services (ACCESS) Act, legislation to establish a federal grant program for health care organizations to expand their capacity to provide abortion services and additional reproductive care in New Mexico and other states where it remains legal. This has become necessary because pro-choice states like New Mexico are shouldering the influx of patients from Republican-led states where abortion is now restricted. This has led to providers in states like New Mexico becoming overwhelmed with demand for abortion care from both in- and out-of-state patients.\n\nIn January, Heinrich attended a briefing on the state of abortion rights in America, the chaos and cruelty of the abortion bans that have been enacted in Republican-led states since Roe was overturned, and the need to pass legislation to restore the right to abortion nationwide.\n\nIn December 2023, Heinrich introduced a resolution in support of equitable, science-based policies governing access to medication abortion.\n\nIn May 2023, Heinrich cosponsored the Protecting Service Members and Military Families\u2019 Access to Health Care Act, which would codify the Department of Defense\u2019s (DOD) February 16, 2023, policy to ensure service members and their families can access reproductive health care, including abortion services, regardless of the state in which they are stationed.\n\nAs Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that oversees the FDA, Heinrich has pushed back against Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk\u2019s ruling that suspends the FDA\u2019s more than 20-year-old approval of mifepristone. Heinrich joined an amicus brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in the case of Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA, in support of the Biden administration\u2019s appeal of the ruling. In a statement in April 2023, Heinrich said that Judge Kacsmaryk \u201cundermined the FDA\u2019s safety and efficacy determination of Mifepristone. And with it, he has undermined the FDA\u2019s authority to determine the safety and efficacy of all medications \u2013 from insulin to cancer treatment.\u201d That same month, Heinrich presided over a hearing on the President\u2019s Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request for the FDA, where he expressed his strongly held view that the \u201cdecisions the FDA makes, whether approving a medical device or approving a new drug, must be guided by science and not by political pressure.\u201d\n\nIn March 2023, Heinrich cosponsored the Women\u2019s Health Protection Act to prohibit states from imposing restrictions that jeopardize access to abortion earlier in pregnancy, such as arbitrary waiting periods, medically unnecessary mandatory ultrasounds, or requirements to provide medically inaccurate information. The bill would also ensure that later in pregnancy, states cannot limit access to abortion if it would jeopardize the life or health of the mother. Finally, this bill would protect the ability of individuals to travel out of state for an abortion, which has become increasingly common in recent years.\n\nIn September 2022, Heinrich urged the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to take immediate action to safeguard women\u2019s privacy and their ability to safely and confidentially get the health care they need.\n\nIn September 2021, Heinrich joined a group of 48 Democrats in the U.S. Senate and 188 members in the U.S. House of Representatives that filed a bicameral amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold nearly 50 years of precedent in Roe v. Wade and protect the constitutional right to abortion care.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:43:57Z"]], "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.heinrich.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/heinrich-highlights-importance-of-ivf-in-new-mexico-slams-republicans-for-once-again-blocking-legislation-to-protect-access-to-ivf"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.8319059163331985, "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"}