Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Katie Britt introduce new IVF legislation

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Katie Britt (R-Ala.) are now pushing to pass new legislation that they say would protect access to in-vitro fertilization services, or IVF.

The bill comes months after the Alabama state Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are considered children, resulting in several state clinics halting services until lawmakers passed legislation to protect them from legal liability.

The Cruz-Britt bill would ban states from getting Medicaid funding if they create an IVF ban.

“I went to Katie and said, listen, let’s team up and let’s have a clear, unequivocal protection for IVF in federal law so that we answer the question so that we guarantee that that no state and no local government can ban IVF,” said Sen. Cruz.

Cruz said he strongly supports IVF and wants to make sure that the right to choose to be a parent with the treatment is protected across the nation.

“There are over eight million babies born through this miraculous technology, and there is nothing that matters more than being able to have a child and love a child and raise a child,” he said.

Britt said the bill is an opportunity for common ground that would help people who want to be parents but have struggled with infertility.

“As a woman, as someone who believes that we should be doing everything possible to help people bring life into this world, I wanted to do that. I wanted to be a part of this,” said Sen. Britt.

The bill comes just months after Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) tried to push a bill forward that would protect IVF treatments but it was blocked by Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.)

Duckworth said the legislation is an attempt to confuse voters, does not protect IVF and opens the door to cut Medicaid.

“It is incredibly damaging that on the one hand, it doesn’t protect IVF,” she said. “It is their attempt to, put a spin on the real situation, which is that, Republicans continue to support personhood over women’s right to reproductive choice, and that now they’ve actually opened the door to gut Medicaid and take health care away from other people.”

Duckworth added that the bill is too narrow and does not protect all forms of IVF.

“Instead of all the forms of IVF being available, they actually narrowly defined it. So their bill doesn’t do anything other than it’s their attempt to confuse voters,” said Sen. Duckworth.

Britt said she hopes to work with Duckworth on the bill.

“I hope that when she has an opportunity to learn more about the bill, that she’ll consider to be a part of it, because I would rather work with her, and be able to move this forward because I think it’s critically important, for the people of this nation,” she said.

The two Republican senators say they are talking to Democrats now about their bill.

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