The legislation from the two staunchly anti-abortion senators would cut Medicaid funding to any state that bans IVF and comes in the wake of an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that found embryos created by the treatment are children and thus protected when it comes to the state’s wrongful death statute.
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed announcing the bill, Cruz and Britt said its aim is to clear up the “confusion and misinformation” spread by the ruling, which has alarmed prospective parents who worry they may lose access to the procedure and the chance to have children.
But Democrats as well as abortion rights advocates said the bill is paying lip-service to the underlying issue.
Advocates have also previously noted that future outright bans on IVF are unlikely; the procedure itself would be legal, but states would likely impose regulations that prevent doctors from using the current medically accepted methods.
Republicans have largely avoided detailing how clinics should handle viable embryos that have not been implanted, as many also seem to agree that embryos are children with equal rights.
“This is a blatant and hypocritical attempt for two staunchly anti-abortion Republicans to try to save face with voters. Senate Republicans not only support policies that threaten IVF and birth control, they also enabled Trump to appoint conservatives to the Supreme Court who overturned Roe v. Wade and emboldened extremist judges to attack fertility treatments,” Reproductive Freedom for All President and CEO Mini Timmaraju said in a statement.
“Let’s be clear, Ted Cruz’s long-standing support for an extreme ban on abortion which is now threatening IVF is why we are here,” said Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas), who is running for Senate against Cruz. “Cruz brags about his long record of working to take away reproductive freedom, including supporting extreme personhood legislation and opposing exceptions for rape, incest and unviable pregnancies.”
The American Society for Reproductive Medicine thanked the senators for supporting the issue but said cutting off Medicaid funds “will only punish vulnerable patients and do little to protect fertility care.”
ASRM instead called on the senators to support the Access to Family Building Act sponsored by Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), which would create federal IVF protections.
Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde Smith (Miss.) has blocked efforts to pass it by unanimous consent on the Senate floor.
