Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked a bill aimed at protecting in vitro fertilization, another effort from Democratic lawmakers to put their GOP colleagues on the record about reproductive rights.
Just two Republicans -- Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Maine Sen. Susan Collins -- crossed party lines to support the bill, with other members of the GOP arguing that it went too far and decrying the effort as a show vote. The measure needed 60 votes to pass, but fell far short, failing in a 48-47 vote.
Democratic lawmakers say legislation is necessary after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled in February frozen embryos can be considered children under state law and that someone could be held liable for destroying them, prompting fertility clinics to pause IVF treatments. Alabama later passed a law granting clinics and health care workers criminal and civil immunity.
Democrats are looking to contrast their stance on reproductive rights with that of Republicans ahead of November's election, in which abortion looks to be a key issue. Abortion was credited with giving Democrats a stronger-than-expected result in 2022's midterm elections and ballot initiatives related to reproductive rights have been successful, even in deep red states like Kansas and Ohio.
"Once again, Senate Republicans refused to protect access to fertility treatments for women who are desperately trying to get pregnant," President Joe Biden said in a statement after the vote. "And just last week, Senate Republicans blocked nationwide protections for birth control. The disregard for a woman’s right to make these decisions for herself and her family is outrageous and unacceptable."
"Republican officials have had every opportunity to protect reproductive freedom since the Supreme Court’s extreme decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, but they refuse to do so," he continued. "Instead, Republicans’ dangerous, out-of-touch agenda is devastating women’s health and lives."
In a statement of her own, Vice President Kamala Harris laid the blame squarely at the feet of Donald Trump, Biden's predecessor who, as president, installed three of the Supreme Court justices that overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
"Since the Court overturned Roe, in states across our nation, extremists have proposed and passed laws that threaten access not only to abortion but to contraception and IVF," Harris said. "Donald Trump has thrown our health care system into chaos and stripped away fundamental freedoms that Americans counted on for decades. By voting against protections for IVF, Trump’s friends in the Senate have shown yet again that they do not believe women have the fundamental right to make decisions about their own health care and their own bodies."
The bill Democrats put on the floor packages together four proposals:
One, sponsored by Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, would prohibit restricting access to assisted reproductive technology such as IVF. It would allow the U.S. attorney general, private citizens and health care providers to sue any state or local governments that interfere with someone seeking fertility treatments.
Duckworth unsuccessfully sought unanimous consent — a procedure that can expedite Senate business — for the proposal in February. She also wants to require the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program to cover IVF and other assisted reproductive technology.
Another proposal, from Washington Sen. Patty Murray, would expand fertility treatments covered by service members’ and veterans’ health care plans to include the option to freeze their eggs or sperm before deployment to combat zones or when unable to conceive without assistance.
And a plan by Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey would require employer-sponsored and public insurance plans to cover fertility treatments and standardize a baseline level of fertility treatment coverage under private plans.
Democrats blame Republicans for opening the door to questions about IVF by successfully pushing to overturn Roe v. Wade in the Supreme Court two years ago. The vote came hours after the Supreme Court unanimously rejected a bid to restrict access to abortion medication mifepristone.
Senate Republicans largely say they, too, support IVF. They sought to counter the bill on Wednesday with legislation of their own — a measure from GOP Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Katie Britt of Alabama would pull Medicaid funding from states that ban the treatment.
“Our goal is to make sure that any family’s path to bringing a child into the world isn’t compromised by preventable legal confusion,” Cruz and Britt wrote in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal.
They sought to pass the bill unanimously on Wednesday night, but it was blocked by Democrats who argued that it didn't go far enough. In a video posted on social media on Tuesday, Duckworth argued the Cruz-Britt bill would not protect IVF treatments that require an egg donor and opens an escape hatch for states that don’t want to participate in Medicaid.
Republicans say there is no real threat to IVF and dismiss the Democrats’ bill as an election-year political ploy. In a statement, 49 Republican senators, led by Cruz and Britt, accused their Democratic counterparts of embracing "a Summer of Scare Tactics — a partisan campaign of false fearmongering intended to mislead and confuse the American people."
"In vitro fertilization is legal and available in every state across our nation,” the GOP lawmakers said. “We strongly support continued nationwide access to IVF, which has allowed millions of aspiring parents to start and grow their families
Senate Republicans last week blocked Democratic legislation that would have protected women’s access to contraception, arguing that bill, too, was a political stunt.