Repronews #45: IVF bills fail in Senate

Queensland fertility bill; liberal natalism; SF tech conference raises natalism; Greek population decline; Kremlin laments low fertility; genetics of insomnia; fastest-evolving animals

Welcome to the latest issue of Repronews! Highlights from this week’s edition:

• Repro/genetics

  • IVF bills fail in Senate, mostly on party line votes

  • Queensland, Australia, passes first fertility legislation, enabling donor-conceived people to know about their ancestry

• Population Policies & Trends

  • New York Times interviews Anastasia Berg on why liberals should have children

  • Major San-Francisco tech conference discusses population decline and natalism

  • Greece: population to enter sharp decline with emigration and almost 2 deaths for every birth

  • Kremlin laments “catastrophic” Russian birthrate of 1.41 per woman, top family MP calls for “special demographic operation.”

• Genetic Studies

  • Not sleeping well? Your genes may strongly influence insomnia, sleep apnea, and restless leg syndrome

• Further Learning

  • Which animals are evolving fastest? Cichlid fish in Lake Victoria have formed over 500 species during the last 15,000 years

  • Genetics Society of America conference discusses eugenics

Repro/genetics

“Senate IVF bill fails again on mostly party line vote” (ABC News)

• The Senate on Tuesday failed for a second time to advance an in vitro fertilization (IVF) protection bill by a vote of 51-44. The legislation needed 60 votes to advance.

• Republican Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) voted in favor of the bill along with all Democrats.

• Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer said he would bring the bill to the floor for a vote to give Republicans a chance to show their support for IVF. “We have seen the Republican Party’s nominee for president claim to be ‘a leader in fertilization’ and come out in support of expanding access to IVF by requiring insurance companies to cover IVF treatment—a key provision included in the Right to IVF Act,” Schumer wrote in a letter to his colleagues on Sunday.

• The vote came after Republic presidential candidate Donald Trump on the campaign trail reaffirmed his support for IVF, including insurance coverage.

• The legislation was largely dismissed by Republicans as a political stunt ahead of this year’s elections. “Republicans support IVF. Full stop. No question about that,” Senate Republican Whip John Thune said during a news conference shortly before the vote. “This is not an attempt to make law. This is not an attempt to get an outcome or to legislate. This is simply an attempt by Democrats to try to create a political issue where there isn’t one.”

• The Right to IVF Act combines several Democratic bills. It would establish a nationwide right for access to IVF, expand fertility treatments for veterans, and seek to increase affordability for fertility care.

• IVF is not currently illegal to access in any US state.

• Before the vote, Republicans attempted to pass a separate piece of IVF legislation sponsored by Senators Katie Britt (R-Ala.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas). This would have deprived states of Medicare funding if they banned access to IVF.

• The Republican bill was blocked from advancing by Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who said the GOP offer was inadequate.

• The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), the leading U.S. group of fertility care professionals, had called for passage of the Right to IVF Act, saying “this pro-family building bill will protect the rights of Americans to seek the medical services they may need to have children and ensure no healthcare provider faces legal consequences for trying to help their patients as they seek to build their families.”

• RESOLVE, the national infertility association, expressed disappointment at the result. “A chance to make real change for American families was squandered and IVF remains at risk across the country,” said RESOLVE CEO Barbara Collura. “We are disappointed—but not surprised—that the Senate once again failed to pass comprehensive family building legislation to ensure IVF remains available and accessible and that patients and providers are protected.”