Ted Cruz And Katie Britt Propose Bill To Protect IVF | EUROtoday

Republican Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Katie Britt (Ala.) on Monday launched laws to guard in vitro fertilization, months after a controversial Alabama Supreme Court ruling that led suppliers to halt the fertility process.

The IVF Protection Act seeks to guard IVF nationwide by barring states from receiving Medicaid funding in the event that they implement a ban on the fertility remedy. The invoice defines IVF as a process the place “eggs are collected from ovaries and manually fertilized by sperm for later placement inside of a uterus.” The laws states that it doesn’t cease states from enacting well being and security protocols inside IVF clinics.

“What Katie and I have done is we’ve introduced straightforward federal legislation to protect IVF, to create a federal right to IVF, which means no state can ban it,” Cruz stated on “Fox & Friends” Monday morning.

“Every senator says they support IVF,” he added. “This should be an example where — look, there are issues we’re going to disagree on — but we should be able to come together, 100 to nothing, and say, ‘We stand with the ability of parents who want to love their kids to bring those children into the world.’”

After the Alabama ruling earlier this 12 months, which successfully outlined embryos as kids, many Republicans floundered to seek out the fitting messaging on IVF.

In February, Senate Republicans blocked a invoice to guard IVF. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) launched the Access to Family Building Act, which might have established a statutory proper to IVF and different fertility remedies, in addition to given physicians the fitting to supply fertility care with out the worry of prosecution. The invoice would even have allowed insurance coverage corporations to cowl the price of fertility remedies, which may be extraordinarily excessive.

On Monday, Cruz, alongside Britt, spoke with Bloomberg’s Annmarie Hordern about why Senate Republicans didn’t help Duckworth’s invoice, saying, “That bill is a very different bill. That bill really seeks to backdoor in broader abortion legislation, which is where the Democrats are, but that’s not IVF.” (Duckworth’s invoice didn’t embody broader laws on abortion.)

The majority of House Republicans have supported laws that may threaten fertility remedies on the nationwide stage, despite the fact that Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, claims he helps IVF.

Several different House Republicans, nevertheless, have launched two resolutions that expressed robust help for IVF however had zero legislative energy to truly defend the fertility remedy. And the identical week the majority of House Republicans endorsed an abortion ban that may threaten IVF, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) launched a invoice that may have safeguarded the remedy.

The Alabama state legislature handed a regulation to guard IVF within the state in March, however that hasn’t stopped questions on Republicans’ constantly conflicting statements on once they consider life begins.

“Donald Trump and Senate Republicans had the chance to protect IVF nationwide, and they chose not to,” Biden-Harris marketing campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt instructed HuffPost.

“By overturning Roe, Trump created the crisis that threatens IVF — and he supports states that ban abortion and rip away IVF access,” Hitt continued. “Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will fight for women’s reproductive rights and Americans’ ability to access IVF to start their families.”

Britt, a freshman Republican senator, rose to fame when she gave the official GOP rebuttal to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union handle in March. She reassured voters in a quite weird handle that Republicans supported IVF.

In a joint assertion with Cruz on Monday, she continued to defend IVF.

“As a mom, I know firsthand that there is no greater blessing than our children, and IVF helps families across America experience the joyous miracle of life, grow and thrive,” Britt stated. “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.”

Scroll beneath to learn the IVF Protection Act in full.