(Washington) Republicans have blocked for the second time this year a bill that would establish a national right to in vitro fertilization (IVF) in the United States, arguing that the vote is an election-year maneuver after Democrats forced a vote on the issue.
The Senate vote was the latest attempt by Democrats to force Republicans into a defensive position on women’s health issues and to underscore the policy differences between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump in the presidential race, especially as Mr. Trump has called himself a “leader on IVF.”
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 they support IVF, are hypocrites because they won’t support legislation that would guarantee a 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 former military member 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 can be considered children under state law. Several clinics in the state have suspended IVF treatments until the GOP-led legislature rushes to enact legislation to provide legal protections for the clinics.
Democrats quickly took advantage of this situation, holding a vote in June on M’s bill.me Duckworth and warning that the U.S. Supreme Court could take up the procedure again after it strikes down abortion rights in 2022.
The bill would establish a national right for patients to access IVF and other assisted reproductive technologies and a right for doctors and insurance companies to provide them, a move to preempt state efforts to limit services. It would also require more health insurers to cover the procedure and expand coverage to military members and veterans.
Republicans argued that the federal government should not tell states what to do and that the bill was a flimsy effort. Only Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted with Democrats to advance the bill twice.
Republicans have been quick to counter Democrats on the issue, with many making clear that they support in vitro fertilization treatments. Last month, Mr. Trump announced his intention, without elaborating, to require health insurance companies or the federal government to pay for fertility treatments.
During his debate with Mme Harris earlier this month, Trump said he was a “leader” on the issue and cited the Alabama court’s “very negative” ruling, which was later overturned by the legislature. South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, said Democrats were trying to create a political problem “where there is none.”
“Let me remind everyone that Republicans support in vitro fertilization, period,” Thune said just before the vote.
The issue threatens to become a vulnerability for Republicans, as some state laws passed by their party grant legal personhood not only to fetuses, but also to any embryos destroyed in the IVF process.
Ahead of its convention this summer, the Republican Party adopted a policy platform that supports states establishing fetal legal personhood through the 14e amendment to the Constitution, which grants equal protection under the law to 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 advance alternatives on the issue, including legislation that would discourage states from adopting explicit bans on the treatment, but those bills have been blocked by Democrats who say they are not enough.
Senator Rick Scott, a Republican from Florida, 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 Senators Katie Britt of Alabama and Ted Cruz of Texas have tried to pass a bill that would threaten to withhold Medicaid insurance funding for states that ban IVF.
Mr Cruz, who is running for re-election in Texas, said Democrats were holding the vote to “stir up unfounded fears about IVF and advance their broader political agenda”.