House Democrats have filed a waiver petition to force a vote on a bill that would make in vitro fertilization (IVF) rights law nationwide, in an unlikely attempt to back Republicans into a corner on reproductive rights.
Rep. Susan Wilde (D-Pennsylvania), the lead sponsor of the Access to Family Formation Act, said Thursday that a petition seeking an exemption to the bill garnered 155 signatures in the first 24 hours after it was submitted. In total, the petition has about 190 signatures.
“This immunity petition is a chance for all members of the House to show where they stand,” House Democratic Leader Katherine Clark (R-Massachusetts) said at a press conference. “Will Republicans stand up for freedom? Will they stand with tens of thousands of aspiring parents? Or will they continue to side with Donald Trump and MAGA extremists?”
The bill would codify legal rights to in vitro fertilization and other assisted reproductive technologies and provide that insurance companies have the legal right to cover them.
It would also allow the Department of Justice and private citizens to sue state and local officials who restrict access to IVF.
The bill was introduced in response to a ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court that found frozen embryos are considered children and that their destruction is a crime. In response, several clinics across the state, including the state’s largest health care system, suspended IVF procedures out of fear of legal repercussions until the Legislature passed an emergency amendment.
The ruling has put Republicans on the defensive, as they scramble to say they fully support IVF but are reluctant to address the underlying implications about the personhood of the fetus that many in the GOP support.
Democrats are waging a reproductive rights campaign ahead of the November election, with House Democrats’ campaign organizers accusing Republicans of wanting to ban IVF if they win the election and pointing to Rep. Matt Rosendale’s (R-Mont.) anti-IVF stance as a warning.
A discharge petition would need 218 signatures to become effective, meaning it would need to be signed by every Democrat in the House, plus some Republicans. The bill has only four Republican co-sponsors, and so far none have signed the petition.
Republicans have not signed onto any Democratic-led dismissal petitions this congressional session, including a similar petition on a bill to protect access to birth control.
