09.17.24

Cantwell Goes To The Floor To Urge Passage Of Bill Guaranteeing Access To IVF: “We’re Telling Americans We Don’t Even Know If We Believe In IVF. This Nonsense Has To Stop.”

Right to IVF Act would create legal protections for patients, providers, and insurers; More than 2,000 babies were born in WA in 2022 thanks to in vitro fertilization

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) spoke on the Senate floor on the need to protect access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) in the face of growing threats to the key medical procedure. Her speech came just after a Senate vote on the Right to IVF Act, which she cosponsors, and which needed 60 votes to advance. Nearly every Republican Senator opposed the bill and it failed by a vote of 51-44.

"If you didn't support IVF before, and you didn't support it today, I'm not sure what it is that you think you support," said Sen. Cantwell. "We are leaving reproductive choice up in the air. We are making women travel all over just to get care, and now we're telling Americans we don't even know if we believe in IVF. This nonsense has to stop."

Codifying a federal right to in vitro fertilization is needed in the wake of Republican led efforts to legally treat embryos and fetuses as people. In February, after the Alabama State Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos should be legally considered the same as children, IVF services then paused in the state. Since then, some Alabama clinics resumed services after the state legislature passed a bill to counteract the court’s decision.

The Right to IVF Act includes provisions that would:

  • Establish a statutory right for individuals to access, providers to provide, and insurers to cover IVF and other assisted reproductive services;
  • Authorize the U.S. Department of Justice to enforce these statutory rights, as well as establish a private right of action to allow adversely affected parties to sue;
  • Increase affordability of fertility care, including IVF, by requiring employer-sponsored insurance plans and other public insurance plans to cover fertility treatments;
  • Standardize the baseline of high-quality fertility treatment coverage under private health insurance plans and protect Americans against excessive out-of-pocket costs;
  • Promote the standardization and widespread availability of affordable fertility treatment coverage under employer-sponsored health insurance plans;
  • Require insurance carriers that participate in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program – the largest employer-sponsored health insurance plan in the world – to cover assisted reproductive services, including IVF treatments;
  • Permanently authorize and enhance fertility treatment and counseling options for veterans and servicemembers, expand family-building assistance, improve eligibility rules, and strengthen research on servicemember and veteran long-term reproductive health; and
  • Expand servicemembers’ access to fertility services before deployment to a combat zone or hazardous duty assignment and after an injury or illness.

Although over 20 states have passed infertility insurance coverage laws, Washington state has not – so this bill would expand IVF coverage for Washingtonians who have insurance through their employer or through the Federal Employes Health Benefit Program, which provides coverage to nearly 8.3 million federal enrollees and their dependents. More than 200,000 Washingtonians struggle with infertility.

The Senate previously voted on the Right to IVF Act in June. Before that vote, Sen. Cantwell addressed her colleagues on the Senate floor to urge their support for the bill. The vote to advance the bill ultimately failed by 48-47.  (Majority Leader Chuck Schumer changed his vote from yes to no to permit reconsideration for procedural reasons, which permitted the Senate to reconsider the legislation today.)

Also in June, the Senate fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance the Right to Contraception Act, which would have guaranteed the right for people to obtain and use contraceptives and for health providers to prescribe contraceptives without interference. Sen. Cantwell, who is also a cosponsor of the Right to Contraception Act, delivered a speech on the Senate floor urging her colleagues to consider the strain on our nation’s reproductive care delivery system when individual states enforce draconian laws that strip away rights from women and families. In her speech, Sen. Cantwell warned of anti-choice activists and their efforts to pass even more restrictive laws, “They’re not done.” 

In May, the University of Washington released a study indicating that Washington state’s abortion providers performed 50% more abortions for patients traveling in from other states after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturned the protections established by Roe v. Wade nearly a half-century earlier. The study also found that all patients in Washington – regardless of whether they’re traveling in from anti-choice states -- are getting abortions approximately one week later, compared to before the Dobbs decision.

Sen. Cantwell continues to fight hard to defend reproductive freedom in Washington state and nationwide. A full timeline of her actions since a draft of the Dobbs decision was leaked in spring 2022, making clear the Supreme Court’s intent to overturn the longstanding reproductive care precedent established by Roe v. Wade, is available HERE.

Video of today’s full floor speech is available HERE, audio HERE, and a transcript HERE.

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