Heinrich Highlights Importance of IVF in New Mexico; Slams Republicans for Once Again Blocking Legislation to Protect Access to IVF
“Republicans are using their position of power to tell people when, how, or with whom to start their families. Shame on them.”
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) released the following statement after Senate Republicans once again blocked the passage of the Right to IVF Act, legislation he introduced as an original cosponsor to establish a nationwide right to in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and other assisted reproductive technology (ART). The legislation would also lower the costs of IVF treatment for millions of families, veterans, and service members.
“Once again, Senate Republicans have blocked legislation that would protect families’ freedom to start and grow a family with IVF. Republicans are using their position of power to tell people when, how, and with whom to start their families. Shame on them.
“Since the radical conservative majority on the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade,we’ve seen Republican extremists in state legislatures across the country enact draconian abortion bans and go after Americans’ access to contraception and IVF.
“Let me be clear: I will never stop fighting to safeguard New Mexicans’ freedom to access reproductive health care. I will use every tool at my disposal to reinstate the protections provided by Roe v. Wade, and combat extreme Republican laws aimed at stripping away access to IVF, contraception, and abortion care.”
Heinrich lifts up an image of Albuquerque residents Erin Stopani and David Duniven during a press conference on the need to pass the Right to IVF Act. Erin and David are building their family with the help of IVF and are expecting the birth of their daughter in January 2025. More images of the Senator attending today’s press conference can be found here.
Heinrich remains unwavering in his commitment to protect women’s reproductive freedoms.
In February, after the Alabama State Supreme Court issued a ruling that threatened access to IVF treatment, Heinrich cosponsored the Access to Family Building Act, legislation that would protect every American’s right to access IVF and other assisted reproductive technology services that millions need to have children. This legislation is now included as part of the broader Right to IVF Act — which Heinrich introduced alongside U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), and Cory Booker (D-N.J.).
Heinrich is also an original cosponsor of the Right to Contraception Act, legislation which would guarantee that people can obtain and health professionals can provide contraceptives – free from government interference. Senate Republicans blocked the passage of the Right to Contraception Act.
In May, Heinrich, Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that oversees funding for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), defended the safety of Mifepristone at a hearing he chaired, with FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf testifying.
In March, Heinrich introduced the Abortion Care Capacity Enhancement and Support Services (ACCESS) Act, legislation to establish a federal grant program for health care organizations to expand their capacity to provide abortion services and additional reproductive care in New Mexico and other states where it remains legal. This has become necessary because pro-choice states like New Mexico are shouldering the influx of patients from Republican-led states where abortion is now restricted. This has led to providers in states like New Mexico becoming overwhelmed with demand for abortion care from both in- and out-of-state patients.
In January, Heinrich attended 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 introduced 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, which would codify the Department of Defense’s (DOD) February 16, 2023, policy to ensure service members and their families can access reproductive health care, including abortion services, regardless of the state in which they are stationed.
As Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that oversees the FDA, Heinrich has pushed back against Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk’s ruling that suspends the FDA’s more than 20-year-old approval of mifepristone. 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 the ruling. In a statement in April 2023, Heinrich said that Judge Kacsmaryk “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.” That same month, Heinrich presided over a hearing on the President’s Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request for the FDA, where he 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 March 2023, Heinrich cosponsored the Women’s Health Protection Act to prohibit states from imposing restrictions that jeopardize access to abortion earlier in pregnancy, 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. Finally, this bill would protect the ability of individuals 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 members 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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