Duckworth Excoriates Senate GOP After They Again Block Her Bill to Protect IVF and Lower Costs for Families, Despite Republicans’ Claims of IVF Support
This is the second time Senate Republicans blocked Duckworth’s Right to IVF Act and the fourth time they blocked Duckworth-led legislation to protect IVF access nationwide
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) called out Senate Republicans’ hypocrisy on the Senate floor after they once again blocked her Right to IVF Act—which they first blocked in June—while continuing to falsely claim that they support IVF. The Senate GOP’s disheartening decision to block the pro-freedom, pro-family legislation a second time comes after Donald Trump promised that the federal government would cover IVF if he is re-elected and proves that Republicans have no interest in actually doing something that would make it easier for Americans struggling with infertility to access IVF. The Right to IVF Act would require health insurers to cover IVF and would establish a nationwide right for hopeful parents to access IVF and other assisted reproductive technology (ART). A video of Senator Duckworth’s remarks is available on YouTube.
Key quotes:
- After 10 years of struggling with infertility after being wounded in combat, I was only able to have my two girls through the medical marvel that is IVF. The only reason there are PB&Js for me to make… the only reason there are only tiny sneakers for me to Velcro… is because after I came home from war, I had the freedom to seek the health care I needed to make my dream of going from “Tammy” to “mommy” a reality.
- I doubt that Donald Trump even knows what the acronym “IVF” stands for. Half the time I wonder if he can even spell “IVF.” But despite the incoherent, delusional, frankly embarrassing ramblings that came out of his mouth last week, the reality is that he is the reason IVF is at risk in the first place. The Dobbs decision is what led us to today’s nightmare, taking the power to decide how and when to start families from us women and handing it to politicians in state houses across the country.
- I went to war to defend this nation’s rights and freedoms. I did it because I believed so deeply in the importance of that mission. I wasn’t asking my GOP colleagues to head into combat to show that they cared deeply, too. I wasn’t asking them to do anything hard at all, actually. All I was asking of them was simply to support a bill that could’ve represented millions of women’s only chance of starting families. All I was asking of them was to vote in a way that reflected the position they claimed to have when they were spouting talking points on Fox News. They couldn’t even do that. So on behalf of every woman who has faced the heart-shattering struggle of infertility, all I can say to my Republican colleagues this afternoon is: Shame. On. You.
Senator Duckworth’s remarks as prepared are below:
This morning, I got to pack my daughters’ lunchboxes.
It sounds mundane, I know.
But when I spend just a second thinking about it, even that kind of everyday moment with my girls isn’t mundane at all.
It’s a miracle.
Because after 10 years of struggling with infertility after being wounded in combat, I was only able to have my two girls through the medical marvel that is IVF.
The only reason there are PB&Js for me to make…
The only reason there are only tiny sneakers for me to Velcro…
Is because after I came home from war, I had the freedom to seek the health care I needed to make my dream of going from “Tammy” to “mommy” a reality.
I was one of the lucky ones.
Because now, that freedom to get reproductive care is at risk for millions of other women whose most desperate hope in the world is to have a little one of their own.
Make no mistake: That isn’t some future nightmare. This is our present reality.
Countless women already had their IVF treatments interrupted this year after an Alabama State Supreme Court ruling painted women seeking fertility treatment as criminals.
And in this perilous moment for our country… as we stare down November and all the uncertainties that come with it… there’s no telling how many more will follow.
Look, I doubt that Donald Trump even knows what the acronym “IVF” stands for.
Half the time I wonder if he can even spell “IVF.”
But despite the incoherent… delusional… frankly embarrassing ramblings that came out of his mouth last week, the reality is that he is the reason IVF is at risk in the first place.
The Dobbs decision is what led us to today’s nightmare, taking the power to decide how and when to start families from us women and handing it to politicians in state houses across the country.
Donald Trump is the one who brags about taking down Roe.
Donald Trump is the one who acts like that’s something to be proud of.
He’s like a bank robber who steals cash out of the till and flees the scene, then still expects a reward for calling the police to report a crime.
So while it may now be convenient for him to claim that his support of IVF is as huge as the made-up crowd sizes at his rallies, we know the truth:
He is the reason that IVF is in danger.
He is to blame—he and every other Republican who cares more about staying good with Trump than about doing good for the Americans they are supposed to serve.
Many… too many… of those Republicans are in this very chamber.
I know that because today marked the THIRD time in the past seven months that I’ve come to the floor begging my Republican colleagues to help me pass legislation I wrote that’d protect every American’s right to IVF, regardless of what state they live in…
A bill that’d ensure no doctor or hopeful mom could be criminalized for trying to start a family…
One that would permit all health insurers to cover the treatments…
And one that would require the federal health insurance plan to cover reproductive technologies, allowing our troops to preserve their sperm or eggs before deploying to a combat zone.
When I tried to pass it in February, it took the junior Republican Senator from Mississippi what seemed like not even one full “Mississippi” second to block its passage.
Then, when I tried to pass it again in June, nearly every GOP member voted it down.
Today, it was the same old cynical story, as Republican after Republican voted “no,” “no,” “no.”
At this point, it’s obvious:
Despite whatever talking points they force through gritted teeth on cable news… when the rubber hits the road and the vote is called… Republicans will do anything to get out of actually passing legislation that would protect women’s right to access reproductive care.
Women in this country have been through enough.
What women don’t need is a man who was found liable for sexual abuse controlling what we can or can’t do with our bodies.
What we don’t need are politicians who have sworn fealty to a convicted felon treating us like we’re the ones who are criminals.
It’s tragic.
Republicans only seem to care about protecting life when it supposedly consists of some cells in a medical lab freezer.
But what about when that life is a fifth-grader’s, whose school day gets shattered by a man with an AR-15 who wants to turn math class into a massacre?
What about when that life is their neighbor’s, who is yet one more woman to bleed out on the delivery table, as the maternal mortality crisis among women of color rages on?
Well, then those same Republicans couldn’t seem to care less about defending the sanctity of life.
Listen, I’m sure that some of my colleagues will try to slink away from taking any accountability here.
Per usual, they’ll shout some ridiculous excuse, like that this bill would allow for human-animal hybrids, as if anyone would ever believe that.
Well, to those folks, I say that this afternoon’s vote was your chance to put your vote where your mouth is…
It was your chance to prove that you believe that every woman in this country deserves the chance to be called “mama” without also being called a criminal.
Instead, your true policy beliefs… your hypocrisy… your misogyny… showed through.
Look, I went to war to defend this nation’s rights and freedoms.
I did it because I believed so deeply in the importance of that mission.
I wasn’t asking my GOP colleagues to head into combat to show that they cared deeply, too.
I wasn’t asking them to do anything hard at all, actually.
All I was asking of them was simply to support a bill that could’ve represented millions of women’s only chance of starting families.
All I was asking of them was to vote in a way that reflected the position they claimed to have when they were spouting talking points on Fox News.
They couldn’t even do that.
So on behalf of every woman who has faced the heart-shattering struggle of infertility, all I can say to my Republican colleagues this afternoon is:
Shame. On. You.
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