Transcripts For CSPAN2 U.S. 20240704

Democratic senator Tammy Duckworth spoke from the floor about her personal experiences having children through in vitro fertilization and asked unanimous consent for the senate to pass her bill to protect access to other assisted Reproductive Technology services nationwide. Mississippi republican senators objected to the request to saying the bill went too far beyond and ensuring legal access. Other Democratic Senators also weighed in on the topic. Ive been called a lot of names in my life. Tammy, lieutenant colonel, senators and a couple of others i shouldnt mention. Mommy though is without a doubt my favorite name. Its the one my 5yearold uses when she runs into the house and pulls on my sleeve to show me what she learned during her lesson. Its the one my 9yearold says when she announces her plan when she was little she wanted to grow up to be a garbage collector and now shes leaning towards an armytl cyber warrior. They wouldnt have been bored if i didnt have the rights to access thathe we had been depending on for nearly a half a century because after a decade of struggling with infertility after my service in iraq i was only able to get pregnant through the miracle of ivf. Ivf is the reason i get to experience the chaos and the beauty, the stress and of the the joythat is motherhood. Its the reason that we are not just tammy and brian but we are mom and dad. Ivf made our family. It made my heart hold and my life full. The Supreme Court ruled with creating should be considered children under state law. With access into chaos as countless women and doctors try to figure out whether they might be criminalized for simply trying to create a family. If you are thinking if this makes no sense, you are right. You are not misunderstanding anything. You are not missing something. It is the nightmare of hypocrisy that you think it is. The people that claim to be defending family values are the ones trying to enact the policies that would prevent americans from starting their ownis families. This is no longer a hypothetical worstcase scenario. Providers around the state have already caused treatment out of fear that their doctors and patients could be punished. Organizations that transport embryos to and from medical facilities in alabama have already announced that they will stop doing so, meaning that was to be parents wont even be able to start their families if any other states either. Now that the first domino has fallen it o seems it could onlye a matter of time before more hospitals and more organizations make the same call before more state courts issue similar rulings, before more extremist politicians succeed in an acting more draconian laws nationwide. Think about that. Think about whats at stake if they simply strip away access. Think about how many might not ever be able to hear their childs first laugh or how many hopeful dads might not ever be able to play tooth fairy with his wouldbe daughter when she loses her first tooth. I lived in alabama for a bit when i was in the army stationed at the fort andfl i didnt knowt at the time that infertility would become one of the most heartbreaking struggles of my life. My miscarriage more painful than any wound that i earned on the battlefield. I also almost lost opportunity to even try because a doctor at a wellknown Catholic Hospital that i was referred to told me that i was simply too old for treatment. That at 42 i should go home and enjoy my that if it was meant to be i would get pregnant. It was luck i found out that doctor was lying to me. She wasnt debasing her advice on medical science but rather on her personal religious belief nearly costing me my chance to have my two little girls. So its an little personal they should be in jail cells and not nurseries they can call themselves the member of the party of life. No rulings like this one and the bills with the same intent being pushed forward in state legislatures around the country are not about being prolife, theyre about catering to an extremist base by controlling womens bodies, pushing politics womens bodies, pushing politics anyone could ever make. Back when i was going through ivf, three of my fertilized eggs werefe deemed nonviable. If it had been in place then i might have been forced to implant each of these threeth nonviable embryos. I might have been forced to suffer through three more miscarriages with me or my doctor being convicted of manslaughter for discarding nonviable fertilized eggs. That is what we are talking about here. That is the level of cruelty that we are facing. That isut the kind of future we are fighting to prevent. The overturning is what made last weeks ruling even possible. Transferring the power to decide whether or when to serve in and politicians are howells states across the country. Donald trump is the one who brags about roe v wade and asks if it is something to be proud of. Every other official who shamelessly groups with every word they say that they care more about protecting his numbers than americans freedoms. After roe v wade was overturned, actually even before then, when the senate was deciding whether to confirm britt cavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court i warned the states would come for ivf and now they have. But they are not going to stop in alabama. Mark my words if we do not act now, it will only get worse. There are a lot of nuanced costs but this simply isnt one of them. We knows its right even if they would like to rob millions of the rights. We shouldnt need to wait until women and doctors are thrown into jail before we have to protect them. That is why today i am begging my colleagues to help me pass my access to Family Building act to ensure that every americans right to become a parent is fully protected regardless of what state they live in. Helpinghe to guarantee no parent or doctor in this country can be held criminally liable for starting or growing a family through ivf. The reality is one in four married women have difficulty getting pregnant or carrying a pregnancy to term. That number doesnt even include americans or other families that also tried to havemi kids. Thats one in four in the red states and blue states. In big cities and rural towns and the wealthiest neighborhoods of the poorest zip codes because infertility doesnt discriminate between party lines. It doesnt recognize state borders. No one should feel someone elses religious beliefs could rob them of their chance to getr pregnant eir chance to get pregnant and no doctor should have to risk a doctor should have to risk a just to provide basic healthcare. With my republican colleagues please think about how many that one in four equal weights to in your state . Women willing to go through treatment for a chance to experience the smallest moments of parenthood just to have a newborn to swaddle, a baby whose labor needs to be changed, a toddler that needs their shoes to be tied, and if you believe they have the right to be called u mom without also being called a criminal its nowhere near enough to claim you care about womens rights despite the voting record for the contrary. Now this is where the rubber meets the road. If you truly care about the sanctity of families and genuinely, actually, honestly interested in protecting ivf, then you need to show it by not blocking this bill today. Its that simple. Thank you. Madam president , i ask unanimous consent the committee on Health Education labor and pension be discharged from further consideration of 3612 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration and further the bill be considered read a third time amanda passed into the motion to reconsider be made and laid upon the table. Is there objection . Reserving the right to object. The senator from mississippi. I support the ability for mothers and fathers to have total accessav to ivf and bring new life into the world. I also believe human life should be protected. These are not mutually exclusive. Lets be clear about what the alabama case is about. This is a case brought by families whose human embryos were killed when an unauthorized individual walked into the fertility clinic through an unsecured door, removed several human embryos and dropped them causing their deaths. The Courts Holding in favor of the parents found that these frozen human embryos or children under alabama law. It did not ban ivf, nor has any state band ivf. The bill before us today is a vast overreach that is full of pills that go way too far. Far beyond and ensuring legal access, the act explicitly waives the religious freedom frustration act and would subject religious and prolife organizations to crippling lawsuits. Religious and prolife organizations can be forced to facilitate procedures that violate their core beliefs including their Health Insurance plans. This would be the first time the bipartisan religious freedom restoration act introduced by then representative Chuck Schumer was explicitly waived. The bills expansion definition of artificial reproductive technologies sweeps much more than ivf and has farreaching implications. It would legalize human cloning, commercial surrogacy including for young girls without parental involvement. It would legalize designer babies and lift the ban on the creation of three parent embryos. It would legalize the creation of human animal. Other countries like germany, new zealand and australia as well as states like louisiana have policies that allow for couples with commonsense protections to respect human life. Creating lives through human cloning the genetic engineering of human embryos and surrogacy is too extreme and goes far beyond. This bill misses the mark. We should strive to do both, and that this bill does not do that. Therefore i object. The senator from illinois. I have the greatest respect and admiration for my friend from mississippi but i have to say that i disagree with her interpretation of my legislation. This bill does three things and three things only. It protects the rights of individuals who Seek Technology without fear of being prosecuted for that technology. It preserves the right of physicians to provide that Technology Without fear of being prosecuted and it also allows Insurance Companies to cover the Reproductive Technology. Iv that is all that it does. It doesnt force anyone to his offer it for anyone to cover it. It simply says you have a statutory right should you choose to pursue the technology that you will be able to do so. I also want to note that in louisiana others already state law that prohibits the discarding of frozen embryos were fertilized eggs. In florida there is a bill pending that would mean that a fertilized egg is a human being and provides for penalties to be put into judgment for those who wouldn. Discard so this is a rel threat today. With that i would like to yield to my colleagues from nevada. Thank you, madam president. The senator fromda nevada. I would like to start by thanking my colleague, senator duckworth, for not only sharing the story of her wonderful family and beautiful two daughters who in fantastic girls and i also have to thank her for bringing forthor this important legislation. Women across the country use t this to start and grow their families. Ot you hear that not only through senator duckworth but so many people in nevada and across the country. They make that choice in complication with their partners, their families and their doctors, not a government official, not a government official. There is no logical reason to deny women that right and get we could see from a mile away that ivf was in danger. Senator duckworth was one of the first to come forward and recognizing that and thats why her legislation is so important. Why . Because attacking ito was yet another check for the antichoice republicans to the road womens rights in this country. They introduced a federal abortion ban. They stacked the courts with antichoice judges. The limited funding to Womens Healthcare and theyve repeatedly ignored the very Science Behind Reproductive Healthcare in order to push their agenda. We knew this was coming. In fact we tried to do something about it a year ago after roe was overturned not only did senator duckworth come tolo the floor with her legislation, we have introduced numerous legislation on the floor to protect womens rights and every single time unfortunately, oneat of our republican colleagues comes forward to object without any explanation but continuing to erode womens rights in the country. And i have to say colleagues claim to be prolife and to champion familyplanning, but when it comes down to it, they dont support it. Just have to be in the communities and listen to the women and their families and you understand that. The difference is that the alabama Supreme Court is calling their bluff. Its no longer this hypothetical. In response to the ruling, and i believe it is extreme, but in response to this ruling, clinics have halted the procedures. I have seen heartbreaking alabama families are forced to put their dreams of putting a family on hold and i am here to tell you it will not stop with alabama. Thehi consequences not only will it close some of the clinics in alabama that weve heard about, it would have a chilling impact nationally. Its one thing to have the legislation, but the chilling impact is another barrier and you dont have to be from a state like nevada. If you are threatening women, families, threatening doctors that want to help these women, that hasll a Chilling Effect evn in nevada. These extreme politicians are seeing this quite frankly and im watching them and they are suddenly stuck. They have to decide whether to agree with the decision or to concede that women should be allowed the basic right to choose if, a when and how to become h a parent. They have to decide how far they are willing to go in their crusade to control women. Having a child through ivf is a wonderful thing. Antichoice republican colleagues know this but they have yet to do the right thing and let me finally say america is watching. You dont have to believe me. Just listen to the American Public across this country a majority. I dont care if its women i hear from, the loved ones, men, i dont care what party you are, democrat, republican, nonpartisan. A majority of americans want them to have this ability. They believe in womens reproductive rights and most importantly what some of our republican colleagues are doing is inhibiting the access to 21st Century Healthcare. That is what this is about. Why should we deny women the right to access 21st Century Healthcare if it is going to save their lives it is going to help them have families, what is wrong with that at the end of the day. So i have to thank the senator and it is unfortunate that we had an objection in the legislation needed in this a day and age that is where we are today. From nevada and other senators who are out here to fight for the right for women to have basic Healthcare Services in the country. Ive said before the attacks on reproductive freedom would never stop. They would never stop with abortion. Ive said before it was at risk and now its been so heartbreaking to see that warning become a gut wrenching reality and its absolutelyee infuriating to see those that support socalled fetal personhood bills who want to codify the very ideology in the alabama supreme a Court Decision that whisks away access to care suddenly acting surprised, suddenly acting like they had no idea that this would happen when it is exactly what we have been warning about and exactly what the far right has been working towards for decades. This isnt some surprise. The decision is republican ideology and action. So, spare me the empty statements especially after the objection we just saw unless youre actually going to work with us, save your breath. There are women in alabama who desperately want to start a family. Women who have tried for years to get pregnant and whove gone through the heartbreak of miscarriage, women who are battling cancer and other devastating diagnoses for whom it is the only way they will be able to have children and now the hope, the disappointment, the thousands it can cost to pursue, after all ofse the outce of these women have had of their dreams shattered because republicans believed a frozen embryo kept in storage is the same and should have the exact same life as a living, breathing person. Thats not hyperbole, its not hypothetical, it is what is happening. You dont have to imagine how painful this is. You just have to listen to the women in alabama who have their worlds turned upside down now by this decision. Megan has a disease that prevents her from carrying children. She asked about transferring the embryos out of state. Even that door has been slammed shut up to her. Jasmine turned to ivf after previous ectopic pregnancies left her with no other options to have a baby. Now alabamait has left her witho options at all. Nine years and 80,000 shes gone through several miscarriages and was days away from a viable embryo transfer but instead of getting that embryo transplanted, she got the same heartbreaking phone call. Her hopes of a family were being put on hold. Years of trying, tens of thousands of dollars at the last moment republicans pulled the rug out from under her. Even families who have already goneg through thought can they afford to pay and store the unused embryos indefinitely, can they be prosecuted i if they dont . They dont know. Right now no one knows. The anger, the anguish, the stories of these women are heartbreaking. As ivf patient Kelly Beaumont to put it, quote, we have already invested so much time and money and emotional anguish into the process. And to think that it could have all been for nothing and we could be ending our journey to have children is terrifying. I dont know how anyone can listen to these stories and still think politicians should be making Womens Health care decisions for them. I really dont. Nowep i said earlier, republicas are acting surprised now by the results of the very policies theyve pushed for. They can save their breath. Thats because actions speak louder than words. Many of the same republicans saying they care now about ivf are literally right now cosponsors of legislation that would enshrine fetal personhood into law and make it unavailable nationwide. You cannot support ivf and support fetal personhood laws. They are fundamentally incompatible. Madam president , instead of empty words, democrats want to see action, and that is why we just tried to pass access to Family Building act. Im frustrated, madam president , but im not done fighting because i know americans are watching and they will not forget who is standing with families in alabama and across theac country and who is standig in their way. Thank you madam president , i yield the floor. I ask unanimous consent of the following senators be permitted to speak for up to five minutes prior to the scheduled votes. Senator kane preceded me and i hesitate to add to what theyve stated so powerfully already. But of course im a man. Skandz this and this bill is about womens reproductive care and womens rights, but it is also about the rights of all of us. The name of the act is the access to Family Building act. Its about families. Its about men like myself whose most awesome moment in life was the time they held their newly born child. Men have an equal stake in the issue that brings us here today. Men should be as scared and angry as women are about this trend which is so destruct ive o basic rights and liberties. Womens rights are human rights. The rights at stake here are rights that are american. What could be more american than wanting to bring a child into the world and what could be more heartbreaking . Weve all been through it through friends, neighbors, maybe our own family. Man and woman in love, want to have a child, miscarriages, other obstacles that prevent it. And there is a hole in their hearts, a hole in their homes and their families. As they struggle with issues of fertility and childbirth. This measure very simply guarantees the right for women and families everywhere in alabama and connecticut, in every state in this country to access the fertility care they need to bring children into the world. You know, over three years ago, before dobbs was decided and we never could have imagined that roe v. Wade would be overturned and the Republican Party eviscerated access to abortion care, i posed what ail thought was a really easy question to a Supreme Court nominee, amy cony barrett. I asked, is it constitutional to criminalize ivf treatment . She dodged, she ducked, she refused to answer. I thought it was selfevident. It is not constitutional to criminalize ivf treatment. That was before dobbs. That was before the legal landscape was volcanically uprooted by this Supreme Court, which has been captured by a farright fringe. Some may have wondered why at that time i asked what seemed like a very farfetched, object view its, arcane question. A lot of people probably didnt even know what it meant. And they may have also wondered why Justice Barrett refused to answer such an obvious question with such a selfevident answer. Wasnt it settled that ivf Free Trade Agreement is not only legally protected ivf treatment is not only legally protected but also a scientific miracle. Think of it for a moment. The science here that is now accessible to every american, everyone in the world. And wasnt ivf profamily, having children, parents who wanted a child and they may have wondered as well, wasnt ivf the last best hope for so many people struggling with infertility desperately seeking to experience the miracle of childbirth for themselves . Who could possibly object to that miracle in the lives of a family who would not only relish but raise a child to contribute to our great country . What has become devastatingly and tragically clear is that the Republican Partys animosity towards Womens Health and womens rights doesnt stop at abortion. Its why i asked that ivf question 20 20, and its why i didnt get a clear answer from a republican nominee of the Supreme Court. The war on women and on reproductive choices by women and the war on families hasnt stopped at abortion or even ivf. The presiding officer senator, your time is up. Mr. Blumenthal so i conclude by thanking my colleagues who have brought this measure to the floor, particularly senator duckworth, and i regret that republicans have blocked this measure. Thank you, madam president. A senator madam president. The presiding officer the senator from virginia. Mr. Kaine thank you, mr. President. The first child born in vitro in the United States is elizabeth carr, and she was born in norfolk, virginia, in 1981. Elizabeths parents were massachusetts residents, and they struggled with infer and they are dream was to are have a child and yet it was not to be. Until they heard about a husband and wife team, walter an georgeann jones. And it must have been a hard road for them to find a place that said yes because this seemed like Science Fiction at the time. But the Eastern Virginia Medical School in norfolk said, open a fertility clinic here. I remember i was 23 years old then and in my memory there was something about it like on the cover of news newsweek. Ive gone back and realized, no, it was life magazine. Science is so hard to even wrap your head around and yet the carrs heard about this and started to travel. They were not people with much money. They started to travel to norfolk and became patients of the two doctors, jones and their daughter elizabeth was born in virginia in the 1981. She is 43 years old today. Shes raising her own family today a today. Elizabeth has been followed wrap your head around this what seemed like unimaginable Science Fiction in 1981. There are now by best estimates, 12 Million People walking this planet who were born by ivf. Living their lives, being happy, raising families, contributing to their communities 12 Million People. What could be more prolife than in vitro fertilization . 12 Million People. Elizabeth was interviewed two days ago by wbur, a public radio station, television station in boston, and heres what she said. She talked about her life and what she is sea doing. She said this very chillingly, for the first time in my life, i feel like an endangered species. I feel like an endangered species. I think many of us believed that the Dobbs Decision and we made predictions about it was not fundamentally about prolife. It was about control. It was about control of womens decisions with respect to abortion, with respect to contraception, and now with respect to deciding theres a path out of infertility. I can have a child. No, we want to control that, too. Thats what the alabama Supreme Court has done. Thats what dobbs was about. Thats why im proud to sign onto the bill led by senator duckworth, the access to Family Building act. Its a simple its as simple a bill as can be. Patients have a right to access fertility treatment, including in vitro fertilization services. This is not a mandate. The enforcement provisions are provisions that allow a person or a Health Care Provider to bring action against a state or governmental entity that tries to interfere with the right that they have. No state should interfere with this right, none. And this is a very simple bill that would enable the Elizabeth Carrs of the world to continue to be born and to continue to live happy and productive lives. Im so glad to be a cosponsor, and, madam president , i yield the floor. Ms. Warren madam president. The presiding officer the senator from massachusetts. Ms. Warren madam president , just now, my friend and colleague, senator tammy duck worth, a longtime champion for ivf and a longtime champion for families, put forward an important bill that would ensure that families have being a is he is to the services they need have access to the services they need to have a baby, including ivf. Since then, republicans have blocked this bill to protect ivf. Now, remember that for all of their talk about supporting ivf when it came down to it, right here in this chamber, republicans blocked ivf protection. Republican opposition to ivf is terrifying. It makes me furious. But it should not surprise anyone. Donald trump set the stage for the attacks on reproductive rights when he stacked the Supreme Court with ultraconservative justices and overturned roe v. Wade. And since then, republicans banned or severely restricted abortion in 24 states. Theyre trying to ban medication abortion nationwide, and now in alabama these extremists have virtually outlawed ivf. Fertility care that gives people a chance to start a family. This has always been about conservative politicians controlling womens bodies. This has been donald trump and the republicans plan all along. And the opposition to senator duckworths proposal today shows that republicans are doubling down against reproductive freedom. They are coming for medication abortion. They are coming for birth control. And they are even coming for prenatal care. Make no mistake we will fight them every step of the way. I want to talk for just a minute about the people who are affected by these extremist policies. Families in alabama who have been wanting and praying that ivf can help them have a baby. Women who have injected themselves with medication for weeks or months or even years. People who have spent an entire lifes savings trying to start a family, only now to see their hopes go down the drain. Lgbtq families who have spent years taking on every obstacles just for the chance to have a baby of their own. And for some, this was the last chance. And now republicans like donald trump and those in this chamber might try to backtrack, might try to say that they are working to protect ivf, but its all talk. Senate republicans actions today speak louder than any empty promises they make. Americans can tell when republican politicians try to talk out of both sides of their mouths. The American People want reproductive freedom. The American People support parents and those desperately trying to become parents. So heres what comes next democrats have made clear that we stand with president biden, with Vice President harris, and with the millions of families affected by these heartless policies. We stand to protect reproductive rights for people all across this country. And together we will fight for every person to have access to a safe abortion, we will fight for every family to have access to the services needed to have a baby, and we wont stop fighting until we secure the congress that we need to protect reproductive freedom for everyone in this country. I am proud to be a cosponsor of senator duckworths bill, and together were going to get this done. Thank you, madam president. I yield the floor. Mr. Wyden madam president. The presiding officer the senator from oregon. Mr. Wyden madam president , i want to say to my colleague from illinois, i am so proud to be a supporter of your legislation that is going to provide the necessary protections for women in america to become mothers. And i think i mentioned this to my colleague at lunch a couple of days ago. 30 years ago, madam president , i wrote the fertility clinic success rate and certification act into law, and i would just say to my colleague, back then we never thought never thought wed have to be standing today on the floor of the United States Senate Debating this, as we are today. But we are here because a few days ago alabamas farright Supreme Court handed down a first of its kind ruling effectively making ivf impossible in alabama. So were seeing heartbreaking headlines about couples in that state being forced to rethink their plans to start a family through the ivf process that was just in effect getting going back then, 30 years ago. Some of these families have already spent tens of thousands of dollars and have undergone extensive medical treatment. Alabamas largest hospital system, the university of alabama, has already passed paused its ivf services out of fear of prosecution. The decision to conceive a child through ivf is rarely ever a parents first choice. Its physically and emotionally painful, taxing and tedious and expensive. But for countless couples dreaming of just one thing, just one thing the chance to start a family the legislation that my colleagues have been working on is absolutely essential. The ivf journey, as we started talking about years ago, for so many parents is gruelling, filled with countless doctors appointments, agonizing waits for test results and, too often too often disappointment. The process is very delicate. Embryos can expire at any time during the process due to an citizens. A doctor could be charged with wrongful death in an embryo expires. That means women who are already undergoing this incredibly painful process could also be handed a wrongful death lawsuit on top of everything else. That, in my view, madam president and colleagues, is nothing short of criminalizing parents, criminalizing people who try to become parents. Unfortunately while this ruling is a shocking one, its not all that surprising if youve been paying attention to the ongoing war that the far right is waging on women and families in america. For years republicans laughed off the concerns about the vulnerability of abortion protections under roe. Then they gutted it at the first opportunity. Since the Dobbs Decision, these same republicans have tried again to convince the American People that theres no threat of a National Abortion law and no threat to any other facet of reproductive freedom like contraception. In short, no domino effect. Instead the repeal of roe has laid the groundwork for an onslaught of Court Rulings just like this one in alabama which explicitly references the dobbs case. The gaslighting would be laughable if it werent so terrifying. Weve all become familiar with the adage when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time. At every opportunity republicans have moved mountains in order to restrict the Constitutional Rights and freedoms of women, making it impossible for them to live their lives free from government intrusion. And its pretty clear to me theyre not going to rest until theres a politician in every bedroom and exam room in america. In the wake of last weeks ruling, i saw a lot of my republican colleagues attempt to distance themselves from the decision, claiming that they unequivocally support ivf. But thats what they put in motion when they overturned roe v. Wade. In fact, a year ago Senate Democrats tried to pass senator duckworths bill. Senate republicans blocked it. So now its clear. If colleagues really do support ivf, as so many were spending all weekend claiming, then theyre in luck. Theyre in luck because senator duckworth is going to give them an opportunity to prove it by going on the record and this evening supporting this legislation. And as i say to my friend from illinois, i was thinking of coming over here today because back 30 years ago nobody ever thought wed have to be out here trying to get started and making sure families had nchlths but what youre doing is so incredibly important, senator duckworth, because with your legislation in america, we will have the necessary protections for women to become mothers using ivf