WASHINGTON – Today, Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) released the following statement on the Senate’s failure to advance the Right to IVF Act, Warner-cosponsored legislation that would protect and expand access to in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and other assisted reproductive technology (ART) services nationwide.

“For years, millions of women have safely and successfully used IVF to start and grow families, making their plans a reality and their dreams come true. Yet we’ve seen judges and politicians take direct aim at fertility care, including in Alabama, where a state Supreme Court ruling upended families’ access to IVF overnight. It isn’t a far-off threat or a fearmongering tactic – we’re in the middle of a targeted assault on women’s access to reproductive care, and we need federal protections in place so families in all 50 states have the freedom to grow if they wish to do so. I’m deeply disappointed that my colleagues failed to protect access to IVF today, including robust protections for servicemembers and military families. I stand firmly with a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions, and I’ll never stop fighting to protect and expand a right to IVF.”

The Right to IVF Act includes provisions from the Warner-cosponsored Access to Family Building Act, and would establish a right for individuals to access IVF and ART services, as well as an adjacent right for doctors to provide these services. It also includes measures from the Veteran Families Health Services Act, which would improve fertility treatment and counseling options for veterans and servicemembers and promote research on servicemember and veteran reproductive health. It would also take several steps to increase affordability, including through mandating coverage of fertility treatments through employer-sponsored insurance plans and other public plans, as well as the Federal Employees Health Benefit (FEHB) Program.

Sen. Warner is a longtime advocate for comprehensive protections for reproductive care. In April, Sen. Warner urged the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to require all insurance carriers in the FEHB Program to cover in-vitro fertilization (IVF) medical treatments and medications. He also cosponsored and voted to pass the Right to Contraception Act, which would codify a right to birth control, and the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would protect abortion access, both of which have been blocked by Republicans.

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