“It is shameful, and it is harmful that U.S. Senate Republicans today refused to take the simple, necessary step of passing a wildly popular bill to protect access to in-vitro fertilization (IVF) in the United States. Together with Republicans’ refusal to enshrine our right to contraception into federal law and to codify Roe v. Wade, this amounts to a total refusal to protect our access to reproductive health care. It is truly indefensible.

“America’s moms wholeheartedly support the Rights to IVF Act, and thank U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (IL), Patty Murray (WA), and Cory Booker (NJ) for championing it. The need for a federal law is indisputable in the wake of the appalling actions by Alabama legislators who have still not clarified that embryos are not people with the same rights as children, and legislative proposals that threaten IVF access in other states. The Right to IVF Act would make IVF more affordable and establish a national right to IVF and other assisted reproductive therapies (ART); expand fertility treatment coverage for the military and veterans, allowing service members and veterans to freeze their eggs or sperm before heading into combat, as well as IVF coverage; require IVF coverage under employer-sponsored health plans and public insurance plans; and require the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program carriers to cover IVF and ART.

“Tens of thousands of babies have been born in this nation through IVF. No family should ever have to fear that access to IVF will be denied or that they will be prosecuted for using it. But Republicans in the U.S. Senate today refused to offer that simple protection. Moms will not forget this vote.”