Right to Ivf Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, now on IVF, 2 years ago, Donald Trump and the MAGA Supreme Court succeeded in overturning Roe and ripping away the right to choose from millions of Americans. This year, as we have seen in States like Alabama, the hard right has its sights on a new target, IVF.

So, tomorrow, the Senate will take up Senator Duckworth's--your bill, Madam President--Senator Duckworth's bill, the Right to IVF Act, to establish a nationwide right to IVF and make it easier for people to access this vital treatment.

This is the very same legislation that almost every single Senate Republican voted against earlier this summer. This past weekend, in New York, I stood with some amazing families--some amazing parents and their beautiful baby, a miracle of IVF--to say that we Democrats will do everything we can to protect access to IVF, and I hope that in this Chamber we will be joined by our Republican colleagues when we vote tomorrow, because tomorrow we will take up Senator Duckworth's Right to IVF Act.

The vast majority of Americans support requiring insurance plans to cover IVF treatments, and I bet every one of us knows someone who has struggled with infertility at one point or another. In my own family, IVF was the answer to our prayers. I have a beautiful grandchild thanks to the miracle of IVF, and I could not bear to imagine the pain we would feel if we were told: Sorry, you are out of luck.

If Republicans truly stand on the side of families, as they regularly claim, then they should leap at the opportunity to protect people's right to access IVF. They should stand ready to pass a bill that makes this treatment available on insurance plans. They should vote yes tomorrow. Of course, we are already beginning to hear the same tired, predictable, and unconvincing excuses from our Republican colleagues looking for a way to vote against IVF protections.

To my Republican colleagues: If you truly support IVF, then vote for a bill that actually protects IVF through the letter of the law.

Republicans cannot claim to be pro-family on the one hand, while then voting against IVF protection bills on the other. Americans are much smarter than that.

Republicans had a chance to back up their rhetoric with action when we voted earlier this year, and nearly all of them failed. I hope tomorrow will bring a different result. The American people will be watching.

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