US senators propose bill to protect IVF access

Two republican senators have proposed a bill to protect IVF, after some states' abortion laws created uncertainty.

Following the Alabama Supreme Court's ruling earlier this year that embryos created via IVF are considered children (see BioNews 1228), Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Senator Katie Britt of Alabama have introduced a bill called the IVF Protection Act that seeks to ensure no state prohibits access to IVF services.

'Families across the US are understandably worried that in vitro fertilisation is under threat', wrote Cruz and Britt in a Wall Street Journal article, adding: 'This is an opportunity to unite on a shared bipartisan commitment to life, family, and personal liberty by protecting access to IVF treatments in every corner of America'.

The issue of access to IVF has arisen following the overturning of Roe v Wade in 2022, which returned the power of regulating abortions to individual states. This triggered a wave of bans and restrictions on abortion in some states, some of which contain language affecting the legal status of human embryos.

The Alabama Supreme Court ruling caused many IVF clinics in Alabama to suspend their services out of fear of prosecution. In response, the Alabama legislature passed a new law to protect fertility clinics from criminal charges (see BioNews 1230).

A previous attempt to protect IVF at a federal level, the Access to Family Building Act introduced by
Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, sought to establish a federal right to IVF and allow healthcare providers the ability to provide such care without fear of prosecution. This bill was blocked because Republicans saw it as a 'backdoor in broader abortion legislation,' Cruz explained in an interview with Bloomberg.

The proposed IVF Protection Act would not compel any person or organisation to provide IVF services but would make states ineligible to receive some federal healthcare funding if IVF access was banned. Cruz hopes that both parties can agree on this approach:

'Every senator says they support IVF,' said Cruz. 'We should be able to come together 100 to nothing to say we stand with the ability of parents who want to love their kids to bring those children into the world'.