Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) blocked legislation to protect access to in vitro fertilization on Wednesday. Democrats advanced the measure in reaction to the controversy over the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling that embryos are protected under state law.
Hyde-Smith stood in opposition after Democrats sought unanimous consent to pass legislation from Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Patty Murray (D-WA), the Access to Family Building Act, which would create a right to access assisted reproductive technology.
Duckworth opened her floor speech on Wednesday by sharing her personal experience with IVF, saying that her two daughters were conceived through the treatment.
“IVF is the reason I get to experience the chaos and the beauty, the stress and the joy that is motherhood,” Duckworth said.
Hyde-Smith called the definition of assisted reproductive technology a “sweeping” infringement on religious rights with major ethical implications. Hyde-Smith also indicated that the bill’s protections could be applied to cloning, commercial surrogacy for minors, and genetically engineered babies, as well as open the door for three-parent embryos and animal-human chimeras.
“I support the ability for mothers and fathers to have total access to IVF and bring new life into the world. I also believe human life should be protected. These are not mutually exclusive.” Hyde-Smith said. “This bill misses the mark.”
The text of the bill itself does not reference by name IVF as a procedure or embryos, nor does it codify that embryos are either “potential for life” or “extrauterine children,” phrases central to the debate over the Alabama case.
Instead, the text of the bill creates “a statutory right … to access assisted reproductive technology” and allows people to “retain all rights regarding the use or disposition of reproductive genetic materials, including gametes.”
Biologically, gametes are the individual sperm and egg cells derived from men and women, respectively. When the gametes join at the moment of conception, they form a zygote, the first stage in embryonic development.
A key practice in IVF treatment is to fertilize multiple eggs at a time while only implanting one embryo into the mother’s uterus. Implanting one embryo at a time is less dangerous for the mother compared to multiembryo implantation, leading to a multichild pregnancy and birth.
After a successful pregnancy, it is common practice to discard excess embryos or keep them cryogenically frozen for potential use in the future. Both alternatives pose ethical questions.
Hyde-Smith blocked the same legislation introduced by Duckworth and Murray first in 2022 following the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
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“Republicans saying they care not about IVF are literally right now co-sponsors of legislation that would enshrine fetal personhood into law and make IVF unavailable nationwide,” Murray said, referencing bills across several states to grant personhood rights to unborn children.
“You cannot support IVF and support fetal personhood laws,” Murray said. “They are fundamentally incompatible.”
