Ernst, Grassley among Republicans blocking Right to IVF Act

Today’s column is so incredibly personal to me that I’m struggling to write without screaming, crying and marching for justice. I don’t even know where I would march, but I’m so angry I could go march by myself down Adams Street.

I would like to start by saying this column is both lengthy and graphic. It may be difficult to read if you are squeamish, but it’s something everyone needs to know.

For the second time in four months, Senate Republicans have blocked the Right to IVF Act. Only two wonderful Republican Senators voted in support — Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. The 51-44 vote was short of the 60 votes needed to move forward on the bill.

Our own Senators, Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley both voted to block this vital bill that ensures the Right to IVF is codified and cannot be taken away by the states.

Let’s back up and talk IVF for those who aren’t familiar. IVF, or in-vitro fertilization, is a lengthy fertility process involving a woman growing numerous eggs, having the eggs retrieved, fertilized outside the womb and then the embryos are put back into the body in hopes of pregnancy. This process is often the last option for women or couples wanting to conceive and carry a biological child.

Since January, I’ve undergone two rounds of IVF. A round refers to the growing and retrieval of eggs. For some people, a round could take a year if they have extra embryos to try. For us, we never made extra. Our first round saw two slightly underdeveloped embryos we implanted at the same time. The result was a miscarriage in April. I found out we had lost the pregnancy on my birthday.

Our second round of IVF is ongoing. This time, we opted to do genetic testing on our two fully-developed embryos. The genetic testing allows the lab to look at the embryos’ chromosomes and see if it is viable with life. Humans typically have 23 pairs of chromosomes, totaling 46. People with Down syndrome have 47. This is because of a partial copy with chromosome 21. People with Turner syndrome can live with 45 chromosomes.

In some situations, the lab will look at an embryo and see it has 100 chromosomes or maybe only two. A human cannot be born and survive with so many or so few chromosomes. This will typically result in either an early miscarriage or very rarely a birth where the baby survives only a few minutes.

I have had two miscarriages. The most common reason for first-trimester miscarriage is chromosomal abnormalities. If you’ve never had a miscarriage, buckle up. Because if more people, specifically politicians, understood what a miscarriage is, maybe we wouldn’t have to fight for these rights.

My first miscarriage was from a natural pregnancy. I woke up to a little blood, not abnormal. I was walking through Walmart in town when I started experiencing cramping so violent I could hardly walk. Naturally it was a Saturday. My husband Patrick took me to the hospital where they couldn’t do much for me. They tested my hCG levels, saying to come back Monday for a transvaginal ultrasound and to check the levels again. If they went down, it was surely a miscarriage.

During IVF, the progesterone shots prevent you from miscarrying naturally like I did the first time. Instead it was a nurse who told me she couldn’t see any signs of life. A doctor confirmed the news. I immediately stopped the shots, but spent a week with my dead baby inside me, waiting for it to pass.

Actively miscarrying is similar to giving birth in that your body experiences contractions. There are intense cramps, a trip to the bathroom and then it’s like violent diarrhea except it’s clots of blood and it’s coming out the vagina. I said I wouldn’t hold back.

You can tell when you’ve passed the actual baby. There’s nothing that haunts me more in life than the image of the bloody clot in the toilet. At over nine weeks, the baby has limbs and is developing hands and feet. I could see the peach-colored spidery limbs through the membrane of blood. And then you have to flush. I wonder if our male politicians had to watch as their baby swirled down the toilet if they would still vote against this bill.

But Cheyenne, what do miscarriages have to do with the Right to IVF Act? Great question! That has to do with why the bill was introduced in the first place.

In February, the Alabama Supreme Court issued a ruling declaring embryos created through IVF should be considered children. At first I thought this had to do with the options around extra embryos. Before you start a single part of IVF, you have to decide — if you have extra embryos and you don’t want anymore children, do you want to donate (directed or not) or discard? We opted for general donation. I thought Alabama was saying you couldn’t choose discard.

As horrible as that would be, it’s so much more than that. When we genetically tested our two embryos, one came back normal - yay! The other came back abnormal, meaning if they put it in me, I would miscarry. It would never become our baby. We discarded the non-viable embryo.

In Alabama, that action was illegal and subject to fines, probation and incarceration. What’s the alternative? There were two options — pay for the rest of your life to keep that embryo frozen or have it transferred into your body and undergo a miscarriage. The Alabama Supreme Court consists of six males and one female. Clearly at least six of them have never had a miscarriage. Yet they find themselves morally able to require others to do so. Thankfully, the Alabama legislature put protections in place to prevent this, but the embryos are still classified as humans, leaving fertility centers wondering what they are and aren’t allowed to do.

The Wall Street Journal reports at least 13 states with pending bills that pertain specifically to the categorization of embryos in the 2024 session.

I’ve read the Right to IVF Act. There are no secret pet projects or anything unrelated to IVF in the act. It’s 100% about codifying the access to IVF for all Americans. It even has an extensive portion about IVF access for active and retired military.

Republicans continue to say they “support IVF,” but refuse to put any action behind the empty words. Here are some reasons Republican Senators gave for blocking the bill.

“Why should we vote for a bill that fixes a non-existent problem? There’s not a problem. There’s no restrictions on IVF, nor should there be.” - Sen. John Cornyn, Texas.

“This is an election-year bill. There’s no state that is endangering IVF. This is the way they create the illusion there is.” - Sen. Bill Cassidy, Louisiana.

“Another show vote... Republicans support IVF, full stop” - John Thune, South Dakota.

I tried to find quotes from Ernst or Grassley on the topic, but all I could find is a bill they are sponsoring and want instead of the Right to IVF Act. It’s the Allowing Greater Access to Safe and Effective Contraceptive Act. While I don’t disagree with the bill itself, it makes zero mention of IVF. It is only about contraception.

Presidential candidate Donald Trump touts himself as a champion of IVF yet he didn’t ask Republicans to pass the bill. His own vice president selection, J.D. Vance, didn’t cast a vote.

Every year, 100,000 babies are born from advanced reproductive technology. Pew Research shows 70% of Americans support access to IVF. Please join me in telling Ernst and Grassley to put their people first and their politics aside.