Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On Today’s Senate Vote On The Right To IVF Act

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on the vote later today to reconsider cloture on the motion to proceed to the Right to IVF Act, which would protect American families’ access to IVF. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

There is perhaps no more personal a decision one can make than the decision of whether or not to start a family. For many people, starting a family is the greatest joy there is. It makes everything else secondary.

Yet for millions and millions of people, infertility can be a nightmare and a source of pain. Thankfully, we live in a time when thanks to treatments like IVF, infertility is not the end of the story.

Sadly, access to IVF can no longer be taken from granted. From the moment the MAGA Supreme Court eliminated Roe, the hard-right made clear that they would keep going. As we saw earlier this year in Alabama, IVF has become the next target of ultra-conservatives, and access to this incredible treatment is more vulnerable than ever.

Today, the Senate will hold a simple and pivotal vote – on whether or not to take up once again the Right to IVF Act. I thank Senator Duckworth, as well as Senators Murray and Booker and all others who have championed this bill for months. They are great leaders on this issue.

If Senate Republicans vote no today, and strike IVF protections down yet again, it will be further proof that Project 2025 is alive and well.

Remember: Donald Trump’s Project 2025 is tied to the Heritage Foundation, one of the most important and extreme conservative think tanks in the country. And earlier this year they came out against today’s bill protecting IVF. They were even against the fig-leaf fake IVF bill pushed by Senators Cruz and Britt. That's how extreme they are.

If people want to see how strong Project 2025’s grip is on the GOP, the outcome of today’s IVF vote will be very, very revealing.

And yet, by all accounts, there is every reason in the world for senators to all vote yes today. Today’s vote is simply a motion to reconsider. We are merely asking whether or not this bill is worth debating. Democrats certainly think it is! We certainly think that if any issue is worth discussing in this chamber, it’s protecting Americans’ reproductive freedoms. And we Democrats extend an open invitation to our Republican colleagues to join us.

Republicans regularly claim that they are the party that stands up for families. Well, today’s bill is about as pro-family as it gets. It helps create families, IVF does. It says that access to IVF should be basic right for all. And it will make sure insurance companies cover IVF treatments in their plans.

This last point is key. Expanding insurance coverage for IVF is something the vast majority of Americans support. A survey from Pew Research showed that even a majority of Republicans surveyed support it. Even a majority of Republicans.

Nevertheless, three months ago, nearly every Senate Republican voted against protecting IVF in this chamber. It was astounding to watch them: with a straight face our Republican colleagues claimed that of course they cared about supporting families, of course they supported IVF, just not enough to actually vote to protect it. That makes no sense. No sense.

Republicans can’t just talk their way past an issue as personal as IVF; what ultimately matters is how they vote on the issue.

So to my Republican colleagues, today you get a second chance: either stand with families struggling with infertility, or stand with Project 2025 which aims to make reproductive freedoms extinct.

If Republicans truly care about helping families, they should vote yes to protect IVF.

If Republicans truly reject the insanity and cruelty – cruelty – of Project 2025 and its extreme conservative agenda, they should vote yes to protect IVF.

On the other hand, if Senate Republicans vote no today, and strike IVF protections down yet again, it’s further proof that Project 2025 is alive and well.

So again, we hope Republicans join us to do the right thing. We ask Republicans to join us because women’s reproductive freedoms are in a time of crisis, and we need to push back.

It’s been over two years since the MAGA Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Today, twenty-two states have passed abortion restrictions – fourteen of them essentially full bans.

Over one in three American women have lost access to reproductive care. Many of them have to drive hundreds of miles out of state to get the care they need, and that still often comes with long wait times.

Doctors fear they’ll be jailed if they offer treatments.

Women in need are at risk of being turned down at hospitals, and it can become a matter of life and death.

This week, America tragically learned of the first confirmed case of a woman dying because abortion bans prevented her from getting the care she needed.

She was a young woman from Georgia, twenty-eight years old and a mother of a six-year-old. She had to travel out of state to get reproductive care. And when she needed emergency surgery after a rare complication, doctors in Georgia delayed giving her the care she needed because of the new restrictions Georgia had placed on the books.

By the time she went into surgery, unfortunately, it was too late and she tragically passed away. The state declared that her death was preventable, had she only gotten care sooner. Worst of all, there are undoubtedly more cases like hers.

These are the terrible and deadly consequences of restricting reproductive freedoms.

The tragedy that happened in Georgia, of a preventable death because of abortion bans, is why Project 2025 is so dangerous: deadly restrictions to reproductive care. Monitoring women’s pregnancies. Banning mifepristone. Laying the groundwork for a national abortion ban. Putting IVF at risk.

To my Republican colleagues, the choice is yours. Americans are watching. Families back home are watching. And couples who want to become parents are watching too.

Republicans cannot say they are pro family but vote against protecting IVF. They cannot say they reject Project 2025 but vote against protecting IVF. That is what’s at stake today. I urge everyone to vote yes.

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