(Washington) — Republicans have blocked legislation for the second time this year to establish a national right to in vitro fertilization (IVF) in the United States, arguing that the vote was an election-year maneuver after Democrats forced a vote on the issue.
The Senate vote was the latest attempt by Democrats to force Republicans to take a defensive stance on women's health issues and highlight the policy differences between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump in the presidential race, especially since Mr. Trump has called himself the “in vitro fertilization leader.”
The 51-44 vote fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance the bill, with only two Republicans voting in favor. Democrats say Republicans who insist on supporting IVF are hypocrites because they won’t support legislation that guarantees the right to it.
“They say they support IVF, go ahead, vote on it,” said Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, the bill’s lead sponsor and a military veteran who used fertility treatment to have her two children.
The Democratic offensive began earlier this year after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos could count as babies under state law. Several clinics in the state suspended IVF treatments until the Republican-led Legislature rushed through a law to provide legal protections for the clinics.
Democrats quickly took advantage of this situation, holding a vote in June on the Ms.I Duckworth warned that the U.S. Supreme Court could take up the measure again after it overturns abortion rights in 2022.
The bill would create a national right of access for patients to IVF and other assisted reproductive technologies, as well as a right for doctors and insurers to provide them, a move to preempt state efforts to limit services. It would also require more health insurance companies to cover the procedure and expand coverage to military personnel and veterans.
Republicans argued that the federal government shouldn’t be telling states what to do and that the bill was a half-assed effort. Only Republican Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted with Democrats to advance the bill twice.
Republicans have been quick to take on Democrats on the issue, with many making clear they support in vitro fertilization treatments. Last month, Trump announced plans, without further details, to force health insurance companies or the federal government to pay for fertility treatments.
During his interview with MI Harris said earlier this month that Trump was a “leader” on the issue and cited the “very negative” ruling by an Alabama court, which the legislature later overturned. South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, said Democrats were trying to create a political problem “where there isn’t one.”
“Let me remind everyone that Republicans support in vitro fertilization,” Mr. Thune said just before the vote.
The issue threatens to become a weak point for Republicans, as some state laws passed by their party grant legal personality not only to embryos, but also to any embryos destroyed in the IVF process.
Ahead of its convention this summer, the Republican Party adopted a policy platform supporting states in determining the legal personhood of the fetus through 14 laws.H Amend the Constitution, which provides equal protection under the law for all American citizens. The platform also encourages support for IVF, but does not explain how the party plans to do so.
Republicans have tried to offer alternatives on the issue, including legislation that would discourage states from issuing outright bans on the treatment, but those bills have been blocked by Democrats who say they don't go far enough.
Sen. Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, said in a speech at the time that his daughter was currently undergoing IVF treatment and proposed expanding the flexibility of health savings accounts. Republican Sens. Katie Britt of Alabama and Ted Cruz of Texas tried to pass a bill that threatened to withhold Medicare funding from states where IVF is banned.
Cruz, who is running for re-election in Texas, said Democrats were holding the vote to “dispel unfounded concerns about IVF and advance their broader political agenda.”
