House Democrats have launched a discharge petition to force a vote on legislation to codify the right to in vitro fertilization (IVF) nationwide, in a long-shot attempt to put Republicans on the spot about reproductive rights.
Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.), lead sponsor of the Access to Family Building Act, said Thursday the discharge petition on the bill received 155 signatures in the first 24 hours it was open. In total, the petition has nearly 190 signatures.
“This discharge petition is a chance for every Member of the House to show where they stand,” House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (Mass.) said during a press conference. “Will Republicans stand up for freedom? Will they stand with tens of thousands of aspiring parents? Or will they continue to stand by Donald Trump and MAGA extremism?”
The legislation would codify a statutory right to IVF and other assisted reproductive technologies and say that insurers have a statutory right to cover them.
It would also allow the Justice Department and private individuals to sue any state or local government official for restricting IVF access.
The bill was introduced after an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that found frozen embryos are considered children, criminalizing their destruction. The decision led multiple clinics in the state, including the state’s largest health system, to pause IVF operations for fear of legal repercussions until the legislature passed an emergency fix.
The ruling put Republicans on the defensive. They have scrambled to say they fully support IVF, but have largely avoided the underlying implications about fetal personhood, which many of them also support.
Democrats have been campaigning on reproductive rights ahead of the November election. The House Democrats’ campaign arm has accused Republicans of wanting to ban IVF if they win, and point to the anti-IVF stance of Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) as a warning.
Discharge petitions need 218 signatures to force action, meaning a handful of Republicans would need to sign on as well as every House Democrat. The legislation has only four Republican co-sponsors, and none of them have signed the petition to date.
Republicans have not signed onto any Democratic-led discharge petitions this congressional session, including a similar one about legislation protecting access to contraception.