VIDEO: Hirono Votes to Protect Access to IVF, Blasts Republicans on Senate Floor

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) voted in support of the Right to IVF Act, legislation to protect the right to in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and other assisted reproductive technology (ART) services, as well as expand insurance coverage of IVF treatment for those who struggle with infertility. Prior to the vote—which failed on the Senate floor, with only two Republicans voting to advance it—Senator Hirono delivered a speech blasting Republicans for blocking IVF protection bills twice this year and highlighted that IVF treatment has been provided safely for over 45 years.  

“For decades, IVF and other assisted reproductive technologies, or ART, have helped people, who otherwise couldn’t, start families of their own,” said Senator Hirono. “While some on the right like to paint IVF as some sort of new or untested technology, that is not so. The first baby delivered via IVF was more than 45 years ago, and since then IVF has helped bring more than 10 million babies into this world.”

In her remarks, Senator Hirono spoke to the importance of Senate Democrats’ legislation to protect the right to IVF, amid rising attacks on IVF from Republicans across the country.

“The last thing people trying to conceive need to worry about is being criminalized by some of the states I mentioned like Alabama because of the whims of far-right jurists and politicians,” continued Senator Hirono. “That’s why this bill is so important. It would establish a nationwide right for patients to access IVF and other ART services, and a right for doctors to provide IVF treatment. And, crucially, it would require and expand health insurance coverage of IVF, because we know access without affordability is not true access.”

Senator Hirono also called out Republican colleagues for voting against the legislation, despite claiming to support IVF access.

“My Republican colleagues appear blinded by their obsession with power and control over women’s bodies that they’re unable to support even this common-sense bill—again indicating how out of touch Republicans are with the needs of particularly women in our country,” said Senator Hirono. “It is disappointing, but not surprising.”

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court of Alabama invoked a ‘fetal personhood’ law, ruling that frozen embryos have the same rights as children, effectively halting IVF treatment in the state. Following this ruling, Senator Hirono joined over 40 of her colleagues in introducing the Access to Family Building Act, legislation—also blocked by Republicans—that would establish a nationwide right for patients to access IVF and other ART services without prohibition, limitation, or interference, and a right for doctors to provide IVF treatment.

A transcript of Senator Hirono’s floor speech is below and video is available for download here.

M. President, as we approach the two-year anniversary of the disastrous Dobbs decision, I am struck by the chaos it has sown across our country. Last week, on this floor, I was joined by a number of my Democratic colleagues in speaking out against Republicans’ attacks on contraception. Despite the relentless attacks from my colleagues across the aisle that they support the right to contraception, when it came down to it, nearly every Republican voted against a bill protecting the right to access contraception. 

Today, I rise in defense of another tool that has helped millions of people across our country start or grow their families – this tool is called IVF or in-vitro fertilization. For decades, IVF and other assisted reproductive technologies, or ART, have helped people, who otherwise couldn’t, start families of their own. While some on the right like to paint IVF as some sort of new or untested technology, that is not so. The first baby delivered via IVF was more than 45 years ago, and since then IVF has helped bring more than 10 million babies into this world. In fact, as a State Representative in the Hawaii legislature in the 1980s, I led the passage of a bill making Hawaii one of the first states in the nation to require health insurers to cover IVF treatment. That was in 1987—years before the iPhone, before email, before some of my colleagues in Congress were even born. And yet, thanks to the chaos created by Dobbs, a whole range of reproductive rights are on the chopping block.

Look at Alabama, where the state Supreme Court invoked a ‘fetal personhood’ law to call into question the legality of IVF, effectively halting IVF treatment in the state. In this very chamber—earlier this year, Republicans blocked our attempt to pass a bill protecting IVF.  The impacts of these concerted attacks are being felt far beyond red states.  In Hawaii, an OBGYN on Oahu, reported that he’s “[O]bserved an increasing level of anxiety among both [his] fertility patients and staff.” So, Hawaii being one of the first states to protect IVF and promote IVF, this doctor is saying that even his patients are seeing the impact of all of these attacks on reproductive rights.

IVF is a complicated process as it is, even under the best of circumstances. The last thing people trying to conceive need to worry about is being criminalized by some of the states I mentioned like Alabama because of the whims of far-right jurists and politicians. That’s why this bill is so important. It would establish a nationwide right for patients to access IVF and other ART services, and a right for doctors to provide IVF treatment. And, crucially, it would require and expand health insurance coverage of IVF, because we know access without affordability is not true access.

But my Republican colleagues appear blinded by their obsession with power and control over women’s bodies that they’re unable to support even this common-sense bill—again indicating how out of touch Republicans are with the needs of particularly women in our country. It is disappointing, but not surprising. They continue to show us just how out of step they are with the American people. Today, Democrats will vote to protect the right to IVF as we continue working to ensure people can make decisions about their bodies, their lives, and their futures, free from government interference. Thank you. 

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