Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) on Wednesday blocked Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) as she sought unanimous consent to pass legislation intended to preempt state restrictions on in vitro fertilization.
The senator had dared Republicans who have tweeted about their support for IVF — after the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos are children put IVF access at risk — but have voted to oppose other reproductive freedoms, to support the bill.
“In this nightmarish moment, it's nowhere near enough to send out a vaguely-worded tweet claiming you care about women's rights, despite a voting record to the contrary,” Duckworth said on the Senate floor.
“This is where the rubber meets the road. If you truly care about the sanctity of families, if you are genuinely, actually honestly interested in protecting IVF, then you need to show it by not blocking this bill today,” Duckworth continued. “It's that simple.”
“Women [are] willing to go through expensive painful medical treatments just for a chance to experience the smallest most banal moments of parenthood.” Duckworth said. “If you believe that they have the right to be called 'mom' without also being called a 'criminal,' then all you have to do to prove it is to let us pass. This should be obvious legislation.”
But Hyde-Smith (R-MS) objected to the legislation, saying the Alabama ruling “did not ban IVF, nor has any state banned IVF.”
“The bill before us today is a vast overreach that is full of poison pills that go way too far, far beyond ensuring legal access to IVF,” Hyde-Smith said.
Her move scuttles the legislation for now, necessitating a full-floor vote for it to pass. She and other Republicans have insisted Congress does not need to take any action to respond to the ruling.
