Access to Family Building Act

 February 28 2024

JB Pritzker

401 S. Spring St.

Springfield, IL 62704

RE: In Support of the Access to Family Building Act

Dear Governor Pritzker,

My name is [Student_Name] and I am currently pursuing my bachelor’s degree in Social Work at the University of Illinois in Springfield. I have been born and raised in Illinois, and I have always felt grateful to be from a state that values women’s reproductive rights, and I appreciate your dedication to ensuring that people can easily receive abortions and reproductive care. Following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, women’s reproductive autonomy has been under attack in a plethora of ways. Women across the nation have lost their right to an abortion or have had their access severely limited, many of these bans are enforced through criminal penalties or jail time. The bills that Republican legislators have been proposing are beginning to become ridiculous examples of what we face in this post Roe v. Wade era, such as a recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling that deemed all fertilized embryos to be people. This is causing big problems for In vitro fertilization (or IVF) facilities, as the ruling means damaging or discarding any fertilized egg outside the body could potentially lead to criminal charges. During the IVF process, more eggs than children desired are fertilized in order to increase the chance of success for the fetuses to be viable, so this ruling calls into question what facilities are meant to do with the excess frozen embryos or embryos they know will not be successful. Facilities across the state have come to a standstill in providing services as they try to transport their eggs to surrounding states. Women struggling with infertility are not the only ones being affected by the IVF ruling. There are many women who have potentially terminal illnesses such as cancer who have chosen to freeze their eggs for later use in fear that their medical treatments could cause them to lose their ability to have kids. This ruling puts these frozen embryos into limbo as well because healthcare providers do not want to be legally liable for any damage. 

Tammy Duckworth, in conjunction with Patty Murrary, the Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations, and U.S. state representative, Susan Wild, has proposed a bill known as the Access to Family Building Act which would provide federal IVF protections nationwide and override any state rulings like the one in Alabama. Duckworth proposed this bill in 2022, but it was blocked by Republicans at that time. She is reintroducing it for a vote now because of the attention that IVF rights are getting, due to the halting of treatment in some states. The Access to Family Building Act would add protections to those who choose to undergo IVF or donate genetic material and for the health care professionals that work in fertility facilities. Tammy herself is open about how she used IVF to have her daughters. She understands on a personal level how IVF services help families struggling with infertility, have the children that they’ve always dreamed of. 

Unlike much of the anti-choice legislation that has been introduced post Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the IVF ruling in Alabama only makes it more difficult for women to have kids, which oddly enough is the opposite sentiment of the Republican party’s “pro-life” agenda. A few Republicans seem to have realized their mistake however, as some are scrambling to come up with a bill that will allow women to receive IVF treatments, but still limit reproductive rights. One bill that was co-sponsored by Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson would define life as beginning at conception, which would remove any potential issues with IVF but would cause problems for women seeking abortions.  

Why anyone would want to target this service in the first place is beyond me, which is why protecting these facilities should be a huge priority. This is why instead of supporting any other bill being proposed to protect IVF, I support Tammy Duckworth’s Access to Family Building Act. This bill is important to me because I have no idea if in my future I will need IVF to start a family of my own. I want to protect IVF because without it, many couples will lose their one opportunity to have children. Solidifying the right to IVF services and allowing the Department of Justice to prevent any entity that attempts to violate such protections will be a monumentally positive, bipartisan decision for women and families everywhere. I ask that you support this bill as well to help ensure that women across the country have access to this service without worry.  Dick Durbin is a cosponsor, as are nearly all of the other Democrats in the U.S. Senate.

I know that you are a governor, and you have no direct influence over what happens in the U.S. Senate, and you probably don’t have much influence over Republicans in the Senate, or members of the U.S. House of Representatives.  But as a governor, you can bring attention to proposed national legislation, and offer your support in a public way that would help build pressure to get this bill passed.  Many Republicans are in favor of allowing IVF services to continue to help women conceive children, and if governors such as you speak out publicly and call for this to be a non-partisan effort to get a bipartisan bill passed in Congress, I think this will help build pressure on moderate Republicans from other states.  I think governors should occasionally speak out on national legislation and national policy, and this is an issue where I believe your voice could help to make a difference. To bring the moderate Republicans on board, it seems to me Democrats such as yourself ought to invite people to see this bill as one that should not be partisan, and call on the moderates in the Republican Party to reject the extreme opinions that have informed the Alabama's Supreme Court decision. I fear that characterizing opposition to Duckworth's Access to Family Building Act as typical Republican attacks on women's rights would only push more of the Republicans and their voters away from this very good bill, which ought to have widespread bipartisan support. 

Sincerely,

[Student_Name]

[Student_Street_Address]

[Student City, State, and Zip Code]

Works Cited

Demante, B. & Jones K.B. (2023, June 15). A year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, trends in state abortion laws have emerged. American Progress CAP 20. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/a-year-after-the-supreme-court-overturned-roe-v-wade-trends-in-state-abortion-laws-have-emerged/ 

Duckworth, T., & Murray, P. (2024, January 18). New Duckworth-Murray WILD Bill Would Protect Right to Access IVF & Other Assisted Reproductive Technology for Every American. Tammy Duckworth U.S. Senator for Illinois. https://www.duckworth.senate.gov/news/press-releases/new-duckworth-murray-wild-bill-would-protect-right-to-access-ivf-other-assisted-reproductive-technology-for-every-american

Hubbard, K. (2024, February 27). IVF: Tammy Duckworth on Senate bill vote.CBS News.  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ivf-tammy-duckworth-senate-bill-vote/

Raman, S. (2024, February 23). Alabama IVF ruling spurs a GOP reckoning on conception bills. Roll Call. https://rollcall.com/2024/02/23/alabama-ivf-ruling-spurs-a-gop-reckoning-on-conception-bills/

Shapiro, A., Mohammad, L., & Handel, S. (2024, February 27). IVF legislation: Tammy Duckworth reacts to Alabama Supreme Court ruling. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2024/02/27/1234158504/ivf-legislation-tammy-duckworth-alabama-supreme-court