Senate Republicans introduce legislation to legalize IVF treatment nationally

Republican Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Katie Britt (Ala.) announced Monday that they are introducing legislation to protect legal access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) nationwide in the wake of an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that embryos created by the treatment are children.

Cruz and Britt said they will unveil the bill to clear up the “confusion and misinformation” spread by the ruling, which has alarmed prospective parents who worry they may lose access to the procedure and the chance to have children.

“To address these concerns, we will introduce a bill on Monday to ensure IVF access is legally protected nationwide. The legislation would require, as a condition of receiving federal Medicaid funding, that states don’t prohibit IVF,” Cruz and Britt wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.

Cruz and Britt added that their goal “is to make sure that any family’s path to bringing a child into the world isn’t compromised by preventable legal confusion.”