October 17, 2024

Duckworth, Foster Reinforce Support for IVF Providers and Families

 

[NAPERVILLE, IL] – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Congressman Bill Foster (D-IL-11) today hosted a discussion with IVF providers, advocates and families on the challenges they face with IVF access at risk across the country after Donald Trump’s Supreme Court Justices overturned Roe v. Wade. Duckworth and Foster were joined by Dr. Amanda Schwartz of the Reproductive Medicine Institute, Dr. Megan Sax of Fertility Centers of Illinois and the Beck Family, a Crystal Lake-based family who used assisted reproductive technology to conceive their two children. Photos from today’s event are available on the Senator’s website.

“After a decade of struggling with infertility, I was only able to have my two beautiful girls through the miracle of IVF,” Duckworth said. I’m grateful I had access to IVF to become a mom when I wanted to become a mom but now, thanks to Donald Trump, that right to reproductive care is at risk for millions of women across this country.  And while so many Republicans continue to claim to support families and IVF, their actions and their votes prove that the American people can’t take them at their word.”

“I was proud to join Senator Duckworth in Naperville today to reinforce our commitment to protecting access to reproductive treatments like IVF,” said Foster. “Far-right politicians and judges have no business meddling in how Americans choose to start and grow their families. I will continue working with my colleagues in Congress to ensure that every woman – no matter what state she lives in – has access to IVF and all forms of reproductive health care.”

Duckworth has been the leader in Congress on protecting access to IVF. Duckworth’s Right to IVF Act, comprehensive legislation she led with U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Cory Booker (D-NJ), would establish a right to IVF and other assisted reproductive technology (ART), expand access for hopeful parents, Veterans and federal employees and help lower the costs of IVF for middle class families across the country. Despite publicly claiming to support IVF for the millions of Americans who rely on it to build their families, nearly every Senate Republican voted against the bill in June and again last month.

The Right to IVF Act builds upon Duckworth’s previous legislation, the Access to Family Building Act. Earlier this year, after the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that put access to IVF at risk for families across that state, Duckworth led a group of Senate Democrats in calling for the bill’s passage through unanimous consent, only for Republican U.S. Senator of Mississippi Cindy Hyde-Smith to object and block Duckworth’s effort. This was the second time Senate Republicans blocked Duckworth-led legislation that would protect access to IVF nationwide. The Access to Family Building Act builds on previous legislation she introduced in 2022.

Duckworth was the first Senator to give birth while serving in office and had both of her children with the help of IVF. In 2018 she advocated for the Senate to change its rules so she could bring her infant onto the Senate floor.

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