Senate Republicans block Democratic bill to protect IVF nationwide

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked a Democrat-led bill to codify broad federal protections for in vitro fertilization amid a growing partisan conflict over reproductive rights in the United States.

The vote was 48 to 47, with just two Republicans voting in favor: Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine. Other members of the Republican Party said the legislation went too far, instead passing a scaled-down version that Democrats called ineffective.

President Joe Biden chastised Senate Republicans who opposed the measure in a statement Thursday night.

“Donald Trump’s Republican MAGA allies voted against protecting access to fertility treatments for women desperately trying to get pregnant,” Biden said. “This is outrageous and unacceptable.”

The Right to IVF Act was put to a vote by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to put the Republican Party on political footing less than five months before the 2024 elections. Democrats say the decision of the conservative-led Supreme Court in 2022 to eliminate the federal right to abortion means that access to contraception and in vitro fertilization is also at risk.

Introduced by Senators Patty Murray, D-Wash., Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and Cory Booker, DN.J., it would establish a federal right for individuals to access in vitro fertilization-assisted reproductive technology services, for providers to offer the procedure and for insurance companies to cover it. These rights could not be undermined by States.

At the heart of the tension is the belief among many social conservatives that life begins at conception. If written into law, this could mean that embryos discarded as part of the IVF process – a common occurrence – will be treated as murder or manslaughter. Many Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., have signed onto legislation that would give a fertilized egg the rights of a person.

Before the vote, Senate Republicans voiced their support for in vitro fertilization. They sought to advance a narrower account This would cut off Medicaid funding for states if they ban IVF. All 49 Republican senators signed a statement from Sen. Katie Britt, R-Alabama, accusing Democrats of waging “a partisan campaign of false fear-mongering intended to deceive and confuse the American people.”

“We strongly support continued access to IVF nationwide, which has enabled millions of aspiring parents to start and grow their families,” the senators said in the statement.

Murray said the Republican Party’s rhetoric is hollow because “actions speak louder than words — and the record here tells a very different story.”

“Republicans have introduced their own legislation so they can pretend to address the same problem they say doesn’t exist, but their bill has huge loopholes that would allow states to restrict IVF in all different ways,” she told reporters. . “It willfully ignores what happens to unused embryos and would do nothing to stop fetal personhood laws from completely altering IVF care.”

In an interview before the vote, Murray argued that part of the goal is to convey to voters that the way to protect reproductive rights in the future is to elect more Democrats in the 2024 elections.

“I think it’s pretty clear where the votes are in the current U.S. Senate,” she said. “And the next election makes all the difference.”