Republican Senators Ted Cruz (Texas) and Katie Britt (Ala.) announced Monday that they are introducing legislation to protect legal access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) nationwide, following an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that that the embryos created by the treatment are children.
Cruz and Britt said they will introduce the bill to clear up the “confusion and misinformation” spread by the ruling, which has alarmed prospective parents who fear losing access to the procedure and the chance to have children.
“To address these concerns, we will introduce a bill on Monday to ensure that access to IVF is legally protected across the country. The legislation would require, as a condition of receiving federal Medicaid funding, that states not ban IVF,” Cruz and Britt wrote in a statement. Wall Street Journal op-ed.
Cruz and Britt added that their goal “is to ensure that any family’s path to bringing a child into the world is not compromised by avoidable legal confusion.”
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) signed a state law in March protecting IVF patients and providers from liability for lost embryos, but Cruz and Britt say federal legislation would clarify lingering uncertainty.
“Our bill does not prevent states from establishing health and safety standards to govern in vitro fertilization, nor does it force any individual or organization to perform in vitro fertilization against their wishes or beliefs. It simply ensures that access to IVF is fully protected by federal law, as there is currently no such federal law in effect,” the senators wrote.
Cruz and Britt defended IVF treatments as “profoundly pro-family” and pointed out that 2% of births in the United States result from the process.
Democrats, led by Sens. Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Tammy Baldwin (Wis.) and Patty Murray (Wash.), have their own legislation to protect access to in vitro fertilization, but Sen. Republican Cindy Hyde Smith (Miss.) blocked efforts to pass it by unanimous consent on the Senate floor.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
