Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, a Republican from Mississippi, blocked a Senate bill that would protect in-vitro fertilization nationwide drafted in response to Alabama's Supreme Court's ruling that frozen embryos were people. The judgment caused fertilization clinics in the state to close, forced hospitals there to cut off related services, and sent legislators rushing to pass a law protecting IVF. Hyde-Smith says that is enough.
The measure, sponsored by Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and brought to the floor for consideration under unanimous consent — meaning one senator could block it from passage — would provide federal protections for IVF. Duckworth, who used IVF to have her two daughters, said the Alabama ruling "paints women like me and our doctors as criminals" and "throws IVF access into chaos as countless women and doctors try to figure out whether they might be criminalized for simply trying to create a family." She further called it a "nightmarish blend of hypocrisy and misogyny." …
n her objection, Hyde-Smith said the Alabama decision "did not ban IVF, nor has any state banned IVF."
"The bill before us today is a vast overreach that is full of poison pills that go way too far, far beyond ensuring legal access to IVF," she said.
The classic warning is something like "Next up, contraception" but the GOP is confident enough to be arguing with itself about general march-to-Gilead issues such as prenatal care now.
