Heinrich Cosponsors Legislation to Protect Americans’ Right to Access IVF

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M) has cosponsored the Access to Family Building Act,whichwould protect every American’s right to access in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and other assisted reproductive technology (ART) services that millions need to have children. 

Introduced by U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.), this legislation would establish a statutory right to access IVF and other ART services, effectively pre-empting any state effort to limit such access and ensuring no hopeful parent—or their doctors—are punished for trying to start or grow a family. This bill is urgently needed after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos created during the IVF process are “children” under state law, threatening access to IVF for those who need it to start or grow their family.

“First, it was banning abortion. Then, it was restricting access to contraceptives. And now, it’s threatening families’ ability to grow their families through IVF. For Republicans, overturning Roe v. Wade was just the beginning of their agenda to roll back women’s reproductive freedoms,” said Heinrich. “I’m proud to cosponsor the Access to Family Building Act to protect the right of every New Mexican to make their own decisions for themselves and their families. This legislation will safeguard access to IVF so that no American is punished for trying to start or grow their family. The Senate should pass this bill immediately.”

The Access to Family Building Act would:

• Establish a statutory right for an individual to access, without prohibition or unreasonable limitation or interference, assisted reproductive technology services, such as IVF, and for a healthcare provider to provide ART services;
• Establish an individual’s statutory right regarding the use or disposition of their reproductive genetic materials, including gametes;
• Allow the Department of Justice to pursue civil action against any state, government official, individual or entity that violates protections in the legislation; and
• Create a private right of action for individuals and healthcare providers in states that have limited access to ART.

After the Supreme Court’s disastrous Dobbs ruling, many women have not only seen their constitutional right to abortion ripped away from them, but also their ability to get treatment for cancer, lupus and more. And now, access to IVF and other assisted reproductive technology needed to build a family are also under threat. 

The new patchwork of state abortion bans has created significant confusion among patients and providers alike about what services doctors can and cannot provide—including ART—in states with the most restrictive laws. These threats have led IVF centers to call for new protections. In a number of states, Republican lawmakers have proposed legislation that would restrict access to ART. 

Alongside Heinrich, the bill was cosponsored by U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.).

The text of the bill is here.   

Heinrich remains unwavering in his commitment to protect women’s freedom to choose.

In January 2024, Heinrich joined Murray and Senate Democrats to host a briefing on the state of abortion rights in America, the chaos and cruelty of the abortion bans that have been enacted in Republican-led states since Roe was overturned, and the need to pass legislation to restore the right to abortion nationwide.

In December 2023, Heinrich joined U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), and 38 of their Senate colleagues in introducing a resolution in support of equitable, science-based policies governing access to medication abortion.

In May 2023, Heinrich cosponsored the Protecting Service Members and Military Families’ Access to Health Care Act to codify the Department of Defense’s (DOD) February 16, 2023 policy to ensure service members and their families can access non-covered reproductive health care, including abortion services, regardless of the state in which they are stationed.

In April 2023, Heinrich joined an amicus brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in the case of Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA, in support of the Biden administration’s appeal of Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk’s ruling that suspends the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) more than 20-year-old approval of mifepristone.

In April 2023, Heinrich, as Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies, presided over a hearing on the President’s Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Heinrich expressed his strongly held view that the “decisions the FDA makes, whether approving a medical device or approving a new drug, must be guided by science and not by political pressure.”

In a statement in April 2023, Senator Heinrich said that a recent federal court ruling by a judge in Texas has “undermined the FDA’s safety and efficacy determination of Mifepristone. And with it, he has undermined the FDA’s authority to determine the safety and efficacy of all medications – from insulin to cancer treatment.”

In March 2023, Heinrich cosponsored the Women’s Health Protection Act to prohibit states from imposing restrictions that jeopardize access to abortion earlier in pregnancy, including many of the state-level restrictions in place prior to Dobbs, such as arbitrary waiting periods, medically unnecessary mandatory ultrasounds, or requirements to provide medically inaccurate information. The bill would also ensure that later in pregnancy, states cannot limit access to abortion if it would jeopardize the life or health of the mother and protect the ability to travel out of state for an abortion, which has become increasingly common in recent years.

In September 2022, Heinrich urged the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to take immediate action to safeguard women’s privacy and their ability to safely and confidentially get the health care they need.

In September 2021, Heinrich joined a group of 48 Democrats in the U.S. Senate and 188 in the U.S. House of Representatives that filed a bicameral amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold nearly 50 years of precedent in Roe v. Wade and protect the constitutional right to abortion care.

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