WASHINGTON – For the second time in four months, Senate Democrats forced a vote on the Right To IVF Act, only to be blocked by Republicans who called it unnecessary and politically motivated, since Vice President Kamala Harris seeks to make access to in vitro fertilization in 2024. campaign issue.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., forced the vote Tuesday after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called himself “a leader of fertilization, IVF” in the recent debate with Harris and released a plan I go to mandates that the insurance companies or government. cover the treatment for free.
The vote was 51-44, falling short of the 60 needed to break a filibuster, with Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine again voting with Democrats in favor of the bill. All other GOP senators present voted against it.
The bill will establish broad protection and national rights for individuals to access in vitro fertilization treatments – or IVF – and ensure that health providers can offer those services without restrictions or interference.
Harris, the Democratic candidate, said in the recent ABC debate that “under Donald Trump’s abortion ban, couples who pray and dream of having a family are denied IVF treatments.”
Trump responded, expressing his support for IVF and noting that the Alabama Supreme Court’s “very negative” decision that threatened access to IVF treatment was overturned by the state Legislature.
Senate Minority Whip John Thune, RSD, dismissed it as “another show vote” and vowed that “Republicans support IVF, period.”
“This is not an attempt to make law. This is not an attempt to achieve an outcome or to legislate,” Thune said. “This is just an attempt by the Democrats to try to create a political problem where there is none.”
After the bill failed Tuesday, Harris said in a statement: “Every woman in every state should have reproductive freedom. However, Republicans in Congress have made it clear that they will not protect access to reproductive health care. fertility that many couples need to realize their dream of having a child.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., the bill’s author, said she is concerned that laws could be passed in some states that define “a fertilized egg as a human being” — such as the Supreme Court of Alabama did – “which then prevents IVF from being carried out”.
When the bill was down, Duckworth told NBC News that the path to passage is for Democrats to sweep the 2024 election and send it back to Congress. She predicted that Democrats would “raise the filibuster” to circumvent the 60-vote requirement, which would require 50 senators to vote to change the rules.
“I think it’s really important for families across the country to be able to start their families when they want to,” Duckworth said.
Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, the Republican vice presidential nominee, did not vote Tuesday while campaigning, but accused Schumer of playing “political games.”
“President Trump and Senator Vance have been clear: They fully support guaranteed IVF access for every American family,” Vance spokeswoman Taylor Van Kirk said.
Republicans have proposed a tighter billwritten by Sens. Katie Britt, R-Ala., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who would cut Medicaid funding for states that ban IVF. Democrats say the bill contains loopholes.
