A Senate Republican blocked the quick passage of a Democrat-led bill on Wednesday that would have installed federal protections, not just for in vitro fertilization (IVF) but for all “assisted reproductive technology” as defined by the federal government.
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) objected to Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Patty Murray’s (D-WA) effort to pass the bill via unanimous consent, which would have fast-tracked the legislation. Democrats reintroduced the bill, called “Access to Family Building Act” or S.3612, in response to the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision ruling that frozen embryos are considered unborn children under state law.
At least three clinics in Alabama have reportedly paused offering IVF since the state Supreme Court issued its ruling, which stated that anyone who destroys a frozen embryo may be held liable under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act — a law that has historically applied to born and unborn children.
“The bill before us today is a vast overreach that is full of poison pills that go way too far — far beyond ensuring legal access to IVF,” Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) said on Senate floor, noting that while she supports IVF, “this bill misses the mark.”
Duckworth, who has had two children by IVF, forced the vote to effectively back Senate Republicans into a corner to see if they would support her bill, all while Democrats and President Joe Biden use the decision as part of their pro-abortion and reproductive health campaign. Republicans — many of whom claim to believe life begins at conception — are being advised to uncritically support IVF so as not to look “extreme” — despite the moral and ethical quandaries surrounding the process, including disposal, experimentation, long-term storage, eugenic-style embryo selection, and even selective abortions later on.
“This is really to call out my Republican colleagues,” Duckworth said. “If this is urgent and you care deeply about this as you say you do — like you’ve been saying in the last 72-plus hours since the Alabama Supreme Court ruling — then don’t object. Let this bill pass.”
Conservative organizations and pro-life groups sounded the alarm on the bill, noting that it goes much further than protecting IVF and blocks the potential for any meaningful regulation of the fertility industry in the United States.
“Far from showing compassion, S.3612 would codify a near-absolute right to create children in the lab, ignoring the rights of those children and the responsibilities of both parents and the baby-making industry,” Quena Gonzalez, the Family Research Council’s senior director of government affairs, told to the Washington Stand. “It would prevent states from effectively regulating the industry, if doing so would add to the cost of IVF. And it would further separate parents from their filial duty to their unborn offspring.”
“The bill, by exempting itself from the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), could be used by the IVF industry to force people and institutions — including religious organizations, small family businesses, and even pro-life organizations — to participate in providing, paying for, insuring, and underwriting artificial reproductive technology to which they object, either on religious or simply moral grounds,” Gonzalez continued.
Leading pro-life organization Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America warned that the bill could enable dystopian nightmares to become reality.
“This bill is not just about a right to fertility treatment,” the organization said in a statement via email. “It is a sweeping anything goes bill that would even codify a right to human cloning and genetic engineering of human embryos. Moreover, it overrides the Religious Freedom Restoration Act so people could be forced to participate in destroying embryos.”
The bill, which was first introduced in 2022 and again last month, federally protects all “assisted reproductive technology” as defined by the federal government.
The bill would also “permit health care providers to provide, and for patients to receive, assisted reproductive technology services without limitations or requirements that” are overly burdensome, unduly restrict access, or do not significantly advance the health or safety of such services, according to the text.
The bill would additionally supersede all other laws on the subject, including state laws and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, and would empower the Department of Justice (DOJ) and attorney general to bring civil action against any government or individual that violates the law, the text states.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.