Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., announced Monday they're introducing legislation to protect legal access to in vitro fertilization, making it a condition to receiving federal funding through Medicaid.
The senators said they hope the measure rectifies "confusion and misinformation" after an Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos are protected human life.
"To address these concerns, we will introduce a bill on Monday to ensure IVF access is legally protected nationwide," Cruz and Britt wrote in a Wall Street Journal commentary.
The legislation would require, as a condition of receiving federal Medicaid funding, that states don't prohibit IVF, Cruz and Britt wrote.
The senators said their goal "is to make sure that any family's path to bringing a child into the world isn't compromised by preventable legal confusion."
Alabama GOP Gov. Kay Ivey signed a state law in March protecting IVF patients and providers from liability for the loss of embryos, but Cruz and Britt say federal legislation would clear up lingering uncertainty.
"Our bill doesn't impede states from setting up health and safety standards to govern IVF, nor does it compel any individual or organization to provide IVF against its wishes or beliefs. It simply ensures that access to IVF is fully protected by federal law, as there is currently no such federal law in place," the senators wrote.
Cruz and Britt defended IVF treatments as "profoundly pro-family" and noted that 2% of births in the U.S. result from the process.
Democrat Sens. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, and Patty Murray of Washington have their own legislation to protect access to IVF.
But Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., blocked efforts to pass it by unanimous consent on the Senate floor.
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