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Floor Speech

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Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, I want to say to my colleague from Illinois that 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.

I think I mentioned this to my colleague at lunch a couple of days ago. Thirty years ago, Madame 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--we would 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, Alabama's far-right Supreme Court handed down a first-of-its-kind ruling effectively making IVF impossible in Alabama.

We are 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 30 years ago. Some of these families have already spent tens of thousands of dollars and have undergone extensive medical treatment. Alabama's largest hospital system, the University of Alabama, has already paused its IVF services out of fear of prosecution.

The decision to conceive a child through IVF is rarely ever a parent's first choice. It is physically and emotionally painful, taxing and tedious, and it is 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 grueling, filled with countless doctor's 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 entirely by accident.

Under Alabama's new ruling, a doctor or a woman undergoing treatment could be charged with wrongful death if an embryo expires during the IVF transfer or implementation process. 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, Madame President and colleagues, is nothing short of criminalizing people who try to become parents.

Unfortunately, while this ruling is a shocking one, it is not all that surprising if you have 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 there is 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 weren't so terrifying. We have 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. It is pretty clear to me they are not going to rest until there is a politician in every bedroom and exam room in America.

In the wake of last week's ruling, I saw a lot of my Republican colleagues attempt to distance themselves from the decision, claiming that they unequivocally support IVF, but that is what they put in motion when they overturned Roe v. Wade. In fact, a year ago, Senate Democrats tried to pass Senator Duckworth's bill. Senate Republicans blocked it. So now it is clear. If colleagues really do support IVF, as so many were spending the whole weekend claiming, then they are in luck. They are in luck because Senator Duckworth is going to give them an opportunity to prove it by going on the record this evening and supporting this legislation.

As I say to my friend from Illinois, I was thinking of you when coming over here today because back 30 years ago, nobody ever thought we would have to be out here just trying to get started in making sure families had information. But what you are 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.

I urge my colleagues to strongly support the Duckworth legislation.

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