“LIFE, LIBERTY, and IVF!”: Senators Propose Cutting Medicaid to Protect Fertility Treatments
WASHINGTON — Two Republican senators have banded together to try to prevent states from outlawing in vitro fertilization, months after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that fertilized embryos were considered children under state law.
Sens. Katie Britt of Alabama and Ted Cruz of Texas unveiled a three-page bill on Monday that would cut off Medicaid money if a state prohibits in vitro fertilization.
“As a mom, I know firsthand that there is no greater blessing than our children, and IVF helps families across our nation experience the joyous miracle of life, grow, and thrive,” Britt said in a statement. “This commonsense piece of legislation affirms both life and liberty — family and freedom, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to enact it into law.”
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Senator Cruz stated that “IVF has given miraculous hope to millions of Americans, and it has given families across the country the gift of children.”
The bill comes months after the Alabama Supreme Court declared that fertilized embryos that had been frozen or not implanted were infants under an 1872 law.
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State lawmakers approved and Gov. Kay Ivey signed legislation to give civil and criminal safeguards for the state’s IVF clinics, allowing them to resume operations. Questions linger, and at least one of the state’s IVF clinics has shuttered.
Democrats in Congress have filed their measures to establish nationwide safeguards for IVF, but two of them have been blocked from quickly clearing the Senate by Republican senators.
In late February, Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi blocked Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth from getting unanimous consent to approve a bill that would have safeguarded IVF nationally.
The bill would have prevented restrictions on “assisted reproductive technology services” which are “more burdensome than limitations or requirements imposed on medically comparable procedures, do not significantly advance reproductive health or the safety of such services, and unduly restrict access to such services.”
In March, Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford prevented Washington State Democratic Sen. Patty Murray from promptly approving legislation that would have increased access to in vitro fertilization for armed service members and veterans.
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