Chuck Schumer Slams 'Extremist' House GOP For Opposing IVF Access Legislation

4 months ago

During remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spoke about access to IVF treatment.

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Transcript

00:00Now, Mr. President, it's been two years since Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans

00:07succeeded in eliminating Roe, ripping away the right to choose and jeopardizing reproductive

00:13care for millions upon millions of women.

00:17Today, women and families across America are worried about more than Roe's demise.

00:23They're worried about what comes next, including the erosion of reproductive freedoms nobody

00:28thought were at risk.

00:30This includes access to services like IVF.

00:35Eighty-six percent of Americans support IVF.

00:39But in the aftermath of Roe, and after frightening decisions like the one from Alabama, many

00:44families fear that this basic service cannot be taken for granted.

00:49That's not theoretical.

00:50Here in Congress, some on the hard right are already trying to restrict IVF access.

00:56The Senate can ease people's worries and protect their freedoms through legislation.

01:02This week, the Senate will vote on the Right to IVF Act, led by my colleagues Senators

01:08Duckworth, Murray, and Booker.

01:11The Right to IVF Act establishes a nationwide right to IVF and eliminates barriers for the

01:18millions of families looking to use IVF to start and grow a family.

01:24Enforcing IVF should be one of the easiest votes the Senate has taken all year.

01:28The vast majority of Senators should agree that strengthening treatments that help people

01:33start a family is a good thing.

01:36In fact, I've seen personally the immense good IVF can do.

01:41I've seen it in my own family.

01:43One of my grandkids was conceived with the help of IVF treatment and we're immensely

01:49grateful we had access to this service.

01:52I can't imagine what we would have done if they had told us, sorry, we're no longer

01:56offering this treatment.

01:59Thank God we never had to deal with that.

02:02Now my family's story can be repeated over and over and over again in the country millions

02:06of times.

02:07Millions of Americans have the joy of children thanks to IVF.

02:14So in no way, shape, or form is protecting IVF a show vote.

02:18It's a show us who you are vote.

02:21Remember what some Senators said when we first pushed marriage equality two years ago.

02:26They called that a show vote.

02:28They called it gimmicky, a waste.

02:30And lo and behold, after a lot of hard work, enough Senators on both sides worked together

02:37and marriage equality became a law.

02:40That bill certainly wasn't a show vote.

02:43Neither is this one.

02:45So let me say it again, 86% of Americans support protecting IVF and just 14% of Americans

02:54say it shouldn't be legal.

02:56Supporting this bill should be a no-brainer here in the Senate and it's all the more urgent

03:01given what House Republican extremists are doing right now to attack women's health care

03:05through the appropriations process.

03:08Just last week, the hard right stuffed the VA funding bill with poison pills that would

03:13rip away reproductive care for our veterans.

03:16And let's not forget, three months ago, the Republican Study Committee, which includes

03:2080% of House Republicans, an overwhelming majority of them, pushed a radical new agenda

03:26that would endanger IVF treatment along with a national abortion ban with zero exceptions

03:32for rape and incest.

03:3480% of House Republicans, abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest.

03:41That's how far right that group has become on this issue.

03:45What a nasty and awful and out-of-touch message to send to the American people.

03:50Instead of pushing policies that the vast majority of Americans support, House Republicans

03:55continue to focus only on their most extreme constituencies.

04:00Here in the Senate, we should choose a different path.

04:03One where we show the American people that we'll protect the rights they care about and

04:07this IVF bill would be a good way to do that.

Chuck Schumer Slams 'Extremist' House GOP For Opposing IVF Access Legislation

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