Senate Republicans voted Tuesday afternoon to block a bill that would guarantee access to IVF nationwide.
All Republicans except for Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted against the bill, which passed with 51 votes, the majority needed to pass the bill, but needed 60 votes to pass. Democrats brought the bill back for consideration after Republicans blocked it in June.
Democrats have been raising the issue this year after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law, causing several clinics in the state to suspend IVF treatments.
Republicans, including Donald Trump, are scrambling to counter what could be a deeply unpopular anti-IVF stance.
“Today, Senate Republicans blocked an IVF rights bill for the second time since June, once again putting politics first and families last,” said Emilia Rowland, national spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee.
The vote marked Democrats’ latest election-year attempt to put Republicans on the defensive on women’s health issues.
The bill had little chance of passing, but Democrats hope to use the vote to pressure Republican congressional candidates and to highlight the differences between President-elect Kamala Harris and Trump, especially as she has described herself as an “IVF leader.”
Rowland warned that access to fertility treatments would be jeopardized if Donald Trump wins the November election.
“Voters know the difference between words and actions,” she said, “and from now until November, they will be opposing Republicans from top to bottom of the ballot.”
The move began earlier this year after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law. Some clinics in the state had halted IVF treatments until the Republican-led Legislature rushed to pass legislation giving the clinics legal protections.
Democrats were quick to capitalize, voting in June on a House bill from Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth that warned they could go after the procedure next after the U.S. Supreme Court overturns abortion rights in 2022. The bill would also expand access to the procedure and lower its cost.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the floor Tuesday morning that the vote was a “second chance” for Republicans.
“The American people are watching, families back home are watching, couples who want to become parents are watching,” Schumer said.
Republicans, meanwhile, have been eager to confront Democrats on the issue, with many of them making clear their support for IVF treatments. President Trump last month unveiled a plan, without providing details, to have health insurers and the federal government cover the costs of fertility treatments.
During a debate with Governor Harris earlier this month, President Trump described himself as a “leader” on the issue and spoke of a “very negative” ruling by an Alabama court that was later overturned by the state legislature.
But the issue could become a weakness for Republicans, because some state laws passed by Republicans would grant legal personhood not only to fetuses but also to embryos destroyed during the IVF process. Ahead of their convention this summer, the Republican Party adopted a policy platform in support of states that establish the personhood of fetuses under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which gives all Americans equal protection under the law. The platform also encourages support for IVF but does not explain how the party intends to support it.
Democrats say if President Trump wants to improve access to the procedure, Republicans should vote in favor of their bill.
“How dare you do that,” Duckworth, a military veteran who used fertility treatments to have two children and led the Senate effort to pass the bill, told her Republican colleagues after they first rejected the bill.
Republicans have tried to push alternative versions of the issue, including bills that would block states from enacting explicit bans on the treatment, but those bills have been blocked by Democrats who say they don’t go far enough.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
