Bill to protect access to IVF fails Senate vote

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) – A bill to protect American's rights to assisted reproductive services failed the U.S. Senate on Thursday.

The U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services reports that over 2 percent of infants born in the U.S. are conceived using assisted reproductive technology, most commonly through In Vitro Fertilization (IVF).

The Right to IVF Act was introduced as a bill to safeguard reproductive rights related to IVF. Democrats who supported the bill said that in a post-Dobbs-decision America, other types of reproductive services are now being targeted.

In February, Alabama's Supreme Court ruled embryos created through IVF would be considered children, making destroying unused or unsuccessful embryos a crime. While Alabama state lawmakers passed a bill to protect providers – allowing IVF procedures to continue – many Democratic legislators, like Wisconsin U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin, said this was only the beginning.

"This shows just how quickly this freedom could be ripped away," Baldwin said.

Before the vote on Thursday, Baldwin held a press call explaining the act. She said it would have created an enforceable right to revive, provide, or cover IVF services while making it more affordable.

"Many people have said that we are being alarmist when we said the ramifications of the Dobbs decision would go far beyond abortion care but look no further than the state of Alabama to see that we were not being alarmist," she said.

Baldwin was joined by two Wisconsin women who successfully had children through IVF. Jamie Haynes said she was grateful for the family she was able to create through the process.

"IVF was a huge beacon of hope that someday I was going to become a parent," she said. "It's truly the only reason we have our two children. Without science and IVF, they would not be here, and they are my dream come true."

The procedural vote was likely to fail due to GOP opposition, with some Republicans calling it a "political show vote" by Democrats. The bill needed 60 votes to advance and failed by a vote of 48-47.

Before voting to block the act, all 49 U.S. Senate Republicans signed a joint statement about it.

The senators wrote, “Senate Democrats have embraced a Summer of Scare Tactics — a partisan campaign of false fearmongering intended to mislead and confuse the American people. In vitro fertilization is legal and available in every state across our nation. We strongly support continued nationwide access to IVF, which has allowed millions of aspiring parents to start and grow their families.”