The Democratic senator has long pressed to safeguard the fertility treatment she used to conceive her children, which has now been thrust into the political conversation.
Senator Tammy Duckworth, Democrat of Illinois, at the Capitol on Monday I didn’t mean to become an advocate,” she said in an interview. “I just wanted to not have anybody else go through what I did.” Tierney L. Cross for The New York Times
By Maya C. Miller Reporting from Capitol Hill Sept. 17, 2024,2:07 pm. ET
When Senator Tammy Duckworth put off having children to prioritizę her military career, the risk of losing her fertility because of combat injuries never crossed her mind.
But after she lost both legs when her helicopter was shot down in Iraq, Ms. Duckworth struggled for more than a decade with infertility- a condition her doctor suggested was tied to the many X-rays she received during treatment for her injuries – before giving birth to two daughters via in vitro fertilization. It’s an experience that prompted Ms. Duckworth, now a Democratic senator from Illinois, to draft legislation to establish a statutory right to access I.V.F.
Senate Republicans were on track Tuesday to block the measure for the second time this year. Democrats scheduled the election- season test vote to spotlight the G.O.P’s opposition to abortion rights and its implications for other reproductive health care.
