Senate GOP Bill Seeks Non-IVF Infertility Solutions

(Dreamstime)

Senate Republicans introduced legislation Thursday aimed at reducing the use of in vitro fertilization (IVF) for people trying to have children and instead promote solutions to infertility and empower couples with autonomy over how they build their families.

The Reproductive Empowerment and Support through Optimal Restoration (RESTORE) Act, led by Sen. Cynthia Hyde-Smith, R-Mo., and Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., would work within existing federal programs to expand access to restorative reproductive medicine for the nearly 11% of women and 9% of men affected by infertility. The senators claim the legislation is “cost neutral.”

IVF treatments have become a major talking point in reproductive health since the Alabama Supreme Court ruled in February that frozen embryos created through the procedure could be considered children under state law regarding wrongful death to a minor. The Republican-controlled Alabama Legislature rushed to adjust state law amid a wave of criticism over the ruling to provide criminal, but not civil, immunity for manufacturers of products used in IVF treatments if embryos are destroyed.

With this being an election year, Democrats are hoping to seize on reproductive healthcare as a rallying cry like they did in the 2022 midterm elections after the Supreme Court’s ruling that ended a federal right to an abortion.

The RESTORE Act was unveiled on the same day that Senate Republicans blocked a vote on a Democrat-led bill called the Right To IVF Act, which The Federalist said would shield the IVF industry from accountability and “legal liability” found in the Alabama Supreme Court ruling, and that its vague language “could also easily be construed to protect surrogacy and experimental transhumanist technologies like artificial wombs and gene editing.”

“I strongly support treatments such as IVF, which have helped so many families experience the miracle of life,” Hyde-Smith said in a news release. “Healing the actual causes of infertility will only help increase the success rate for couples trying to conceive. It’s time that we look at paying serious attention helping women and couples affected by infertility by treating the underlying conditions that make it hard, if not impossible, to have a baby.”

The RESTORE Act is intended to bring greater focus on reproductive health conditions such as endometriosis, adenomyosis, polycystic ovary syndrome, uterine fibroids, blocked fallopian tubes, and hormone imbalances that are leading causes of infertility and painful menstrual cycles.

It would, among other things, promote educational tools for women seeking information about reproductive health conditions and restorative reproductive medicine; provide training for medical professionals to learn how to better diagnose and treat reproductive health conditions; and allow funds from Title X awards for potential grant recipients engaged primarily in restorative reproductive medicine.

“Infertility is one of the most difficult challenges couples can face, and most Americans have either faced or know someone who is facing the difficult journey to have a baby,” Lankford said in the news release. “IVF is an incredible scientific advancement that allows families to bring life into the world, but IVF is very expensive and shouldn’t be the only option available to families.

“The RESTORE Act prioritizes addressing underlying causes of infertility to help families to bring the miracle of life into the world.”

The legislation also contains strong religious and conscience protections to ensure that no hospitals, employees, grantees, contractors, individuals, or entities are required to provide or held liable for refusing to provide restorative reproductive medicine or fertility awareness-based methods.