Democrats plan to use the fight over the personhood status of embryos to pass a sweeping bill that would protect the multibillion-dollar assisted reproductive technology (ART) industry and punish states and health institutions that try to limit third-party child manufacturing.<\/p>\n

Senate Democrats plan to introduce Tammy Duckworth\u2019s in vitro fertilization bill<\/a> on Wednesday with hopes that they can garner unanimous consent<\/a> from their colleagues across the aisle to proceed. <\/p>\n

The legislation seeks to protect the unlimited<\/em> creation and destruction of healthy eggs, sperm, and embryos in all 50 states by punishing any entity that tries to \u201cunduly restrict access\u201d to a range of reproductive technologies. <\/p>\n

While Duckworth\u2019s bill does not explicitly mention the manufacture of\u00a0<\/em>motherless and fatherless children<\/a>, surrogacy, or experimental\u00a0 transhumanist<\/a> technologies like artificial wombs<\/a>, \u201cgene editing,\u201d<\/a> and the creations of eggs outside of women\u2019s reproductive systems<\/a>, its vague language and lack of definitions<\/a> could easily be construed to protect such actions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you truly care about the sanctity of families, and you\u2019re genuinely, actually, honestly interested in protecting IVF, then you need to show it by not blocking this bill on the floor,\u201d Duckworth challenged on Tuesday.<\/a><\/p>\n

Only one Republican senator would need to oppose the bill to keep it from moving through the upper chamber. In 2022, that senator was\u00a0 Mississippi Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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The National Republican Senatorial Committee told Axios<\/a> last week, however, that \u201cthere are zero Republican Senate candidates who support efforts to restrict access to fertility treatments.\u201d Its assertion that classifying embryos as human life is merely \u201cfodder for Democrats hoping to manipulate the abortion issue for electoral gain\u201d further casts doubt that anyone from the GOP would object this time around. <\/p>\n
If Republicans fail to stop this wide-ranging bill in its tracks, they would not only be abandoning their pro-life commitments but they would effectively greenlight legislation that gives individuals and Big Fertility facilities the authority to sue red states that move to impose\u00a0 even the most commonsense limits<\/a>\u00a0on ART. <\/p>\n
They would also be handing more power to President Joe Biden\u2019s corrupt Department of Justice to pursue action against pro-life, Republican governments like Alabama\u2019s if they attempt to regulate the use of past, present, and future babymaking tech. <\/p>\n
Laws designed to hold the baby manufacturing market accountable are already largely nonexistent,\u00a0 save in a few states that ban commercial surrogacy<\/a>. Under Duckworth\u2019s bill, no politician or state could limit even the most unethical and immoral aspects of the global industry that routinely\u00a0 exploits<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0 profits off<\/a>\u00a0of the misfortunes of those struggling with infertility without punishment. <\/p>\n
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If accepted without GOP objection, the Democrats\u2019 IVF legislation would guarantee the indefinite freezing of millions of embryos<\/a> and the destruction of\u00a0 millions more<\/a>. <\/p>\n
As I explained<\/a> last week, \u201cBeing pro-baby and pro-life doesn\u2019t mean giving Big Fertility, a\u00a0 multi-billion dollar<\/a>\u00a0industry, permission to do whatever they please because scientific advancements have made it possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer claimed passing the bill was a necessary step to curb the \u201chard-right attack on IVF\u201d after the Alabama Supreme Court, per the state\u2019s constitution and legal precedent, deemed embryos minors under the state\u2019s civil Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. <\/p>\n
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Americans are outraged by the hard-right attack on IVF we saw in Alabama<\/p>\n
The decision will cause untold damage to women, families, doctors<\/p>\n
Heartbreaking
Enraging<\/p>\n
Watch @SenDuckworth<\/a>, @PattyMurray<\/a>, @SenatorBaldwin<\/a>, @SenAmyKlobuchar<\/a>, and I stand together for reproductive rights: pic.twitter.com\/ceJqpDeXkX<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) February 27, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n