ms. duckworth: are we in a quorum call? pre --

the presiding officer: we are not. ms. duckworth: i've been called in my life, tammy, colonel, senator, but mommy is without a doubt my favorite]3. it's the one my 5-year-old uses when she runs into house after dance class eager toçn sh me what she learned. it's the one my 9-year-old uses when she announces her lif she wanted to be a and now she wants to be a cyber warier. they would not have been without the basic rights that americans have been depending on for n century. after a decade of struggling in in iraq, i was through the miracle of ivf. it is the reason why i get to

experience the joy, beauty, stress and joy. it is the reaso my husband and i are not just tammy and but we're mom and dad. ivf made my heart full. but for alabama, that desperately a mom just became so much harder. last week, that state's supreme court ruled that fzen embryos created through ivf should be considered children underuk stañ law, a ruling that paints women like our doctors as criminals, andtn] into chaos as people wonder cri trying to create a family. if you're right. you're not misunderstanding

it's theshly blend of thinkis. and misogyny that you those claiming to -- that -- this prevent americans from starting their own families. this this is no lonr■ hypothetical worse-case scenario. ivf providers around the state have paused treatments out of fear that their doctors and pun organizations that embryos to and from medical facilities in alabama h announc stop doing so, meaning that would-be parents there won't be able to start their families in any other states either. and now that the first domino has d only be a matter of time before more hospitals and more organizations make the same call, before more state courts issue similar rulings, before more extremist politicians■■ succeed in enacting even more

draconian laws nationwide. think about that. think about what's at stake if state simply strip away access to ivf. think how many would -- would-be moms would not hear their child's first gurgle of a laugh, how many dads might not be able to fairy when their daughter loses a tooth.i i didn't know it at the t infertility would become one of the m heartbreaking struggles in my life, my miscarriage more painful than any wound on the battlefield. a doctor at a well-known catholic hospital that m hospital referred me to told me i was simply toot that at 42, i husband instead and if it was

it was pure luck that i found out that that doctor was lying advice on medical scienceut on her personal religious beliefs, nearly costing me my chance to have my two little girls. so it's a little personal when majority male state supreme court sugst p■/pl who became parents with the help of jail cells and nurseries, i couldn't don't -- don't understand how they can call themselves the member of the party of life no rulings like this one and the bills with the same intent bein legislatures around the country are not a pro-life, they're about catering to an extremist base by controlling women's bodies, pushing politics into. so the most personal

decisions anyone could make. when i was going through ivf, three-my five fertilized eggs were deemed nonviable. if a version of thisul been in place then, i might have been forced to implant each these three -- each of thoseiabt have been forced to suffer through three more miscarriages or risk me or my daughter being convicted manslaughter. that's the kind of extremist -- extremism we're talking about here. that's the level of cruelty we're facing, that's the kind of future we're fighting prevent. when frozen embryos have more rights than the carry them. let's be clear about what led to the overturning of roe made last week possible, transferring the power of whether or when to start families from us to politicians in state houses

across the country. donald trump is the one who brags about taking down roe v. wade, donald trump asks ifcp tha■j something to be proud of. while it may be convenient for him to cim to do with what happened in alabama, with we know thet risk he is to blame. him and every other gop official who shamelessly kisses hi oving say, more about protecting his poll numbers tha after roe v. wade was overturned, even before then, when the deciding whether to confirm amy coney ba, i warranted that red -- warned that red states would c for ivf and they have. if we do in the act now, it will only get worse. there are a lot of of nuanced tough calls we must make a, thi

of them. we know even if extremist courts would like to rob we shouldn't have to wait nool women and doctors are thrown into jail before we act to protect them. that's why today i'm begging my coeagues to help me pass my access to family building act, a ensure every american's right to become a parent through treatments like ivf are fully protected regardless of what stateheyin. helping guarantee that no hopeful parnlt or can be held c liable for the reality is one in four married women have carrying a pregnancy to that doesn't include part nefless americans or other fami trying to have kids. that's one in four in red state cities and rural towns, in t

the -- in the wealthiest towns and poore of zip codes, infertility doesn't recognize state borders, no one should eleoelse's religious beliefs should rob them of thra doctor should have to risk a im■inal record just to provide women basic health care. to my republican co how many that one in four equates to in your go through expensive, painful medical treatments of trep?atme experie parenthood, to experience a baby that needs to bed or a toddler who needs their shoes to be tied, if you believe they need to be called a mom this should be obvious legislation. because in this it is nowhere nh

to send out a tweet claiming you care about women's right despite a voting record to the contrary. this is it where the rubber the about families, and honesy 1c interested in protecting ivf, then you need to show it by not blocking t it's that simple. you. madam president, as if in legislative session, i ask unanimous consent that the committeeged from further consideration of36 to its immediate consideration. further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passednd the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there to object. the presiding officer: the senator from mississippi. mrs. hyde-smit i support the

ability for mothers and fathers to have total access t and bringing new life into the world. i also believe human life should be protected. these are not mutually exclusive. let's be clear about what the alabama case is about. this was a case brought by families whose human embryos were kille unauthorized individual walked into the fertility clinic through an unsecure door, roved several human embryos and dropped them the court's holding in favor of the parents found these frozen embriyosn under law. it did not ban ivf nor has a iv the bill before us today is a vast overreach that is full of poison pills that go way too far, far beyond ensuring legal

access to ivf. the act explicitly waives the religious freedom act and would -- it could be forced fa till tate procedures -- facilitate procedures that violate their core beliefs, including health insurance plans. this could be the first■ t the chuck schumer was explicitly waived expansion definition of reproductivive technology sweeps in much more than ivfhing implicationings. it would it would legalize commercial eo surrogacy, including for young girls without parental vo would legalize -edited

designer baby -- designer babies, it would legalize there of human animal, other developed countries like germany, new zealand and australia and states like louisiana have policies that allow ivf, coupled with commonsense proteio respect human life, creating rights to human cloning, the genetic engineering of human embryo is too extreme and goes far beyond ivf we should strive to do both and therefore, i object. the presiding officer: the senator from o ms. duckworth: madam president, i have the greatest respect and vmmiration for my friend from

mississippi, but i have to say i disagree w of my piece of legislation. this bill does three things and three things only, it protects the right of iiduals to seek reproductivive technology without fear of being prosecuted for -- for seeking that technology. it preserves■y■ right of physicians to provide that assisted preproductivive technology without fear of being prosecuted and itompanies to co does. ed reproductivive it does not force to seek reproductivive technology, offer it or cover it. it says you h statutory right should you choose t_ pursue reproductivive technology that you will be able to do so. i in louisiana there is already state law that ozen embryos or frozen f

fertili fertilizedation. in florida, there it is a bill pending before the state legislature that would deem that a fertilized egg is a being and provide for the opportunity for penalties to be would discard the fertiz real threat today. with that, i would like to yield to my colleague fromm. ficer: t senator from nevada. ms. cortez masto: first, i want to start off by thanking my colleague, senator duckworth, for not only sharing her story of her wonderful family and beautiful two whoive -- i see myself what an r fantastic girls. i also w bringing forward this important legislation. women across the country use ivf to start and grow their families. you're hearing that not only from senator duckworth, i've

heard it from so many people in nevada and really across the country. they make that choice in consultation with their partners, their families, and their doctors, not a government official. not a government official. there is no logical reason to deny women that ght. and yet afro v. wade -- aftere roe v. wade fell, we could see a mile away that ivf was in senator duckworth came forward in recognizing that and that's why her legislation is simporta. attackinga vf was -- ivf was another chance to erode women's rights in this country. they've introduced a fedal ban supersede state laws. they've stacked the antichoice judges. they've limited health care. and they have repeatedly ignored the very science behind reproductive health care in order to push their agenda.

in fact, we tried to do something about it a year ago. after roe was overturned, not only did senator duckworth come to the with her legislation, we numerous legislation on this floor to protect women's rights. and everyingle time, unfortunately, one of our republican colleagues comes forward without any explanation but continuing to really erode women's rights inhi have to say gop colleagues of ours claim to be pro-life. they claim to planning. but really when it comes down to it, they don't have to be in ou communities and listen to■q■íhe women and their families and you understand that. the difference this time around court is actually calling their

this hy to the ruling, and i believe it's an extremen respone to this ruling, clinics, some clinics in alabama have halted ivf procedures. they've halted them. i have seen heartbreaking stories of alabama families who are bng forced to put their dreams of starting a family on hold, and i'm here it will not stop with alabama. the consequences of this rulg w those clinics in alabama that we've heard about, a chilling impacto have the legislation that bans it outright, but the■■m impact is another barrier. and you don't have like nevada pro-choice state. if y threatening women, if you're threatening their families, if you're doctors that want to help these women, that has a chilling effect even in nevada.

even in nevada. these ext seeing this. you know, quite frankly, i'm watching them and they're suddenly stuck. they have toid to agree with this judge's antichoice decision or to concede that women should be allowed this basic rightin toif become -- when, and how to become a parent. suddenly they have to decide how far they're willing to go in w. having a child through ivf is a. and it should not be lican colleagues, they know this. yet they have once again refused to do the right thing for american families, by supintion. and let me just finally say hyp display. and america is watching. don't . just listen to the

across this country a majority, a majority -- and i don't care -- it's women i hear from. it's their loved , it's men. i don't care what party you are. i don't care if you're democrat, republican,'rnpartisan. a majority of americans want women to have this right to chse. th w have this ability. they believe in having families. thelivf. they believe in women's reproductive rits importantl this -- some of our republican colleagues are doing is inhibiting and limiting women's access to 21st century health care. that's what this about. why should we deny women the right t21st century health care if it's going to save their going to help them have families? what is wrong with that a the d? so i haveh. it's unfortunate that we had an objection to her legislation that is so needed.

unfortunately in this day and age, but it is. that's where we are today, fighting for women's, fighting across this country. to■[ my colleagues is, i trust women to make this decision. why don't they? thank you, madam president. i yield the floor.f the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: thank you, madam president. thank you to my colague from illinois, from nevada, and other senators who are out here to fight for theig women to have basic health care services in this country. you said before that republican attacks on reproductive freedom would never stop with roe. they would never stop with abortion. i risk. and now it has been so heartbreaking to see that warning become a gut-wrenching reality no women in alabama. and it isutely infuriating to see some of the same

republicansupport so-called fetal person who want very ideology in supreme court decision that ripped away access to ivf care. suddenly acting surprised. suddenlyo idea this would happen. suddly acting like this was totally unforeseen when it actually what we have been warning about and exactly what the farn working towards for de surprise. the alabama supreme court desideology in action. so spare me the empty statements, especially after the objection that we just saw here work with us to protect your b. there are women in alabama who

family, women who have tried for years to get pregnant, women who have gone through the heartbrea battling cancer and other diagn ivf is the only way ty will be able to have children. and now after everythingy've been through, the hope, the disappointthousands, even tens of thousands of dollars it can cost to p ivf, after all that, these women have shattered because republicans believe a frozen embryo kept in storage at an ivf clinicnd should have the exact same rights as a living, breathing human person. that's note. that is not hypothetical. that is what is■d you don't have to imagine how ten to the s is. women in alabama who have hador

now by this has a rare blood disease, prevents her from carrying children. her hopes of starting a family through ivf and a surrogate were dashed last week whether her doctor called to cancel her friday appointment. she asked abo embryos out of state. even that doo to her. jasmine york turned to ivf after previous ectopic pregnancies left her with no other options to have a baby. now alabama has left her with n! options at all. as she said, it's just derailed a lot of hope. -- nine years and $80,000 trying to have a child. she's gone and she was days away, days away■1 from getting

viable embryo transferred. but instead of getting that embryo transplanted, she got the same heartbreaking phone call. g put on hold.trying, tens of thousands of dollars, andublica the rug out from under her. even families who have already gone through ivf are facing the fallout. can they afford to pay and store unus be prosecuted if they know. right now no one knows. theger, madam president, the anguish, the stories of these wo heartbreaking. as ivf patient kelly belmont p invested so much time and money and just physical and emotional anguish into this process, to think it could have all been for nothing and that we could bo

have children is absolutely terrifying.o hold myself together emotionally. unquote. so powerful. i don't know how anyone can still think politicians should be making women's health care decisions for them. i really don't. now, i said earlier republicans are acting surprised now by the of the very policies they've pushed for. they can save their ea that's because actions speak louder than rd of the same repus saying they care now about are literally right now cosponsors of legislation that would enshrine fetal personhood into law and make ivf unavailable nationwide. you cannot support ivf and pp fetal personhood laws. they are fda

incompatible. madam president, instead democr see action, and that is why we just tried to pass the access to family building act. it doesn't get any more straightforward than that. blocked the bill and colors whe to ivf. i am i am not done fighting, because i know 3oericans are watching and they will not forget who'sta across the country and who is t. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: as part of what we're doing here, i ask unanimous coent following senators be permitted to speak for up to five minutes ea prior to the scheduled votes.

warren and wyden. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blumenthal: thank you. i've been really awed and humbled by the eloquence of the women senatorswho have preceded me and to add to what they'v so powerfully already. but i'm a man.- and this bill i about women's reproductive care and also about the rights of all of us. the nam of the act is the family building ac. it's about families. it's about men like myself whose most awesome moment in life hel born child.

men have an equal stake in toda. men should be as scared and angry are about this trend which is so destruct ive o basic rights andights are human. the rights at stake here are rights that are american. what could be more american than wanting to bring a child the world and what could be more heartbreaking? we through it through friends, neighbors, maybe our own family. man and woman in have a child, miscarriages, other obstacles that prevent it. and there is a hole in their hearts, a hole in their homes and their families.

fertility and childbirth.yjs of this measure very simply guarantees the rightamilies eve alabama and connecticut, in every state in thisountry -- to access the fertility care they need to bring children into the world. you know, over three years ago, before dobbs was decided and we never could h that roe v. wade would be overturned and the republican party eviscerated access to abortion care, i posed w■qeally easy que supreme court nominee, amy cony barrett. i asked, is it constitutional to criminalize ivf treatment? sh ducked, she

refused to answer. i thought it was self-evident. it is constitutional to criminalize ivf treatment. that was before dobbs. that was before the legal landscape was volcanically uprooted by this supreme coas b far-right fe. some may have wondered why at that time i asked what■[ seemed like a very far-fetched, object view its, lot of people probabl even know what and they may have also wondered ■7why justice barrett refused t answer such an obvious question. wasn't ittled that ivf free trade agreement is not only legally protected -- ivf treatment is not only legally

miracle. think of it for a moment. thecien accessible to every american, everyone in the world. and wasn't ivfpro-family, having children, parents who wanted a child and they may have wondered as well, wasn't ivf the last best struggling with infertility desperately experie childbirth for possibly object■ that miracle in the lives of a family w would not only relish but raise a child to contribute to our great country? what has become tragically cleae

republican party's animosity towards women's health and women's rights stop at abortion. it's why i ask ivf question 20/20, and it's why i didn't get a clear answer republican nominee of the supreme court. the war on women and reproductive choices by women and the war oasn't stopped at abortion the presiding officer: senator, your time is up. mr. blumenthal: so i conclude by thanking my colleag brought this measure to the floor, particularly senator duck regret that republicans have blocked this measure. thank you, madam president. a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from mr. kaine: thank you, mr. president. the first child bornn vitro in the united states is elizabeth carr, and she was born invirgin.

elizabeth's parents were massachusetts residents, and they struggled with infer and they are dream was to e child and yet it was not to be. until they heard about a husband walter an■÷#x■n georgeann jones. it must ha road for them to find a place that said yes because this seemed like science fiction at the time. but the eastern virginia norfol here. i remember i was 23 years old then and in my memory there was something about it like on the cover of news "newsweek." i've gone back and realized, no, it was" magazine. science is so hard to even wrap

your head around yet the carrs heard about this and started to travel. they were not people with much money. they started to travel to norfolk and became doctors, jonr daughter elizabeth was born in virginia in the 1981. today. she's raising her own family today a -- today. elizabeth has been followed -- wrap your head around this -- whatl s unimaginable science fiction in 1981. estima, 12 million people walking this living their lives, being happy, raising families, contributing to their communities -- 12 million people. what could be more pro-life tha? 12 million people.

elizabeth was i by wbur, a publo statn, television station in boston, and here's what she said. she talked about her life and what she is sea doing. she said this very chillingly, for the first timin my life, i feel like an endangered species species. i think many of that the dobbs decision -- and we j ma■3de predictions about it -- s not fundamentally about pro-life. it was aboutf women's decisions with respect to abortion, with respect to contraception, and now with respect to deciding there's a path out of infertility. i can have a child. no, we want to control that, too. that's what the a's what dobbs . that's why i'm proud to sign duckworth, the access to family

building act. a simple -- it's a bill as can be. patients have a right to access fertility treatment, including in vitro fertilization services. this is not mandate. the enforcement provisions are provisions t■cb-v'erson or a health care provider to bring action against aal entity to interfere with the right that they have. no state should interfere with this right, none. and this is a very simple bill that woue the elizabeth carrs of the world t continue to be born and to continue to live happy and lives. i'm so glad to be a cosponsor, and, madam president, i yiel

ms. warren: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from massachuses.esiden just now, my friend and colleague, senator tammy duck worth, alongtime champion for ivf and9m longtime champion for families, put forward an that families have being a is he is to the services ty need -- have access to the services they need to have a baby, including ivf. since then, republicans have blocked this billo protect ivf. now, remember that forll talk a when it came down it, right here in this chamber, republicans b republican opposition is terrifying. it makes me furious. but it should not surprise anyone. donald trump set the stage for

the attacks onep rights when he stacked the supreme court with ultronrv and and since then, republicans banned or severely res■uitricab. they're trying to ban medication abortion nation-wide, and now in alabama these extremistsave virtually outlawed ivf. people a chance to start a family. alw conservative politicians controlling womes bodies. this has been donald trump and the and the opposition to senator duckworth's proposal today shows that republicans doubling down against reproductive freedom. they are coming for medication

abortion. they are comingth control. and they are even coming for care. make noay. i want to talk for just a minute about the people who are affected by these extremist■c policies. families in alabama who have and praying that ivf can help them baby. women who have injected themselves with medication for weeks or months or evenza■s hava family, only now to see their hopes go down the drain. lgbtq families■b spent years taking on every obstacles baby of their own■í. for some,

chance. and now republicans like donald trump and thoses chamber might try to backtrack, might tryay that they are working to protect ivf, but it'■s al talk. senate actions today speak louder than any empty promises they make. americans can tell when republican polic sides of their mouths. the a reproductive freedom. the american people support parents and those desperately trying to become so here's what comes next -- democrats have madet we stand with president biden, with harris, and with the millions of families t policies. we s reproductive rights for people all across

this country. and together we will to have aca safe■c abortion, we will fight r every family to have access ser baby, and stop fighting until we secure the congress that we need to protect reproductive freedom for i am proud to be a cosponsor of senator duckworth's bill, and together we're going to get this done. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. mr. wyden: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: madam president, i m supporter of your legislation that is going necessary protections for women in america to become mothers. and i think i■en this to

my colleague at lunch a couple of ds ago. 30 years ago, madam presint, wrote the fertility clinic ccess rate and certification act into law, and to my colleag we never thought -- never thought -- we'd have to be standing today on the floor of the united states senate■ debating this, as we are today. but we ar here because a few days ago alabama's far-right supreme court a first of its kind ruling effectively mak in alabama. so we're seeing heartbreaking headlines about couples in that