Senate Republicans block IVF legislation

Legislation to establish a national right to in vitro fertilization (IVF) was blocked by Senate Republicans on Thursday, amid a push by Democrats to get the GOP on board for reproductive rights ahead of the November elections.

The bill needed 60 votes to advance, meaning nine Republicans would need to break ranks and vote with Democrats. The final vote was 48 to 47, with only two Republicans defecting: Senator Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska).

The Right to IVF Act, sponsored by Democratic Senators Tammy Duckworth (D), Patty Murray (D), and Cory Booker (D), is a package of four bills that would establish a national right to in vitro fertilization and other IVF technologies. assisted reproduction, as well as reducing the costs of IVF treatment to make it more affordable.

Thursday’s vote is the latest in a series organized by Senate Democratic leadership on codifying reproductive rights.

Democrats want to drive a wedge between Republicans and get them on the record by opposing these efforts, especially as the Republican Party struggles with how to convey its position on reproductive rights in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v.

“Protecting IVF should be the easiest ‘yes’ vote the Senate has taken all year. Republicans cannot say they are pro-family and then vote against protecting IVF,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) said on the floor Thursday.

Thursday’s vote comes a week after Republicans blocked a similar bill from Democrats that would have guaranteed the right to contraception.

Republicans criticized the vote as an election-year stunt, voicing concerns about unfunded mandates and the impact on religious freedom.

President Biden released a statement criticizing Republicans for blocking the bill.

“Once again, Senate Republicans have refused to protect access to fertility treatments for women desperately trying to get pregnant,” he said in a statement.

“Republican officials have had every opportunity to protect reproductive freedom since the Supreme Court’s extreme decision to overturn Roe v., but they refuse to do so. Instead, the Republicans’ dangerous, out-of-reach agenda is devastating women’s health and lives.”

Republican senators on Wednesday tried to introduce their own alternative in vitro fertilization bill from Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Katie Britt (R-Ala.).

The attempt for unanimous approval was blocked by Murray.

The bill “explicitly allows states to enact onerous restrictions and requirements that would force IVF clinics to close their doors,” Murray told reporters Wednesday. “This bill is nothing more than a public relations stunt, providing cover for Republicans to somehow continue to pretend they won’t control women’s bodies.”

The legislation would prevent states from receiving Medicaid funding if they implement an IVF ban. Cruz and Britt also said the legislation would ensure that in vitro fertilization is fully protected under federal law, although it would not create a right to in vitro fertilization.

The Republican bill would create an incentive for politicians not to pass legislation banning in vitro fertilization, but it would not prevent a court from restricting the procedure, as happened in Alabama. It would also have allowed restrictions on how embryos are stored, implanted and disposed of.

On the Senate floor Wednesday, Britt said Democrats were only interested in fearmongering.

“Unfortunately, they’re not interested in a bill to actually protect access to IVF and figuring out how we could get this to become law. That would not advance their true goal, which is partisan electoral politics,” Britt said.

After the vote, all Senate Republicans signed a pledge saying they “strongly support” continuing nationwide access to in vitro fertilization, which gained prominence in election-year politics when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled in February that embryos are children and therefore protected when it comes to the state’s wrongful death statute.

Since the court’s ruling in February, Republicans have spoken out loudly to say they fully support in vitro fertilization. But they also largely avoided the question at the heart of the issue: If they believe that life begins at conception, how should clinics treat viable embryos that don’t implant?

During IVF treatments, multiple eggs are often collected, fertilized, and then frozen to increase the chances of successful implementation and pregnancy. If an embryo is not viable, if genetic abnormalities are identified, or if a patient does not wish to have any more children, common medical practice is to discard them.

Thursday’s vote also comes a day after the Southern Baptist Convention, the country’s largest Protestant denomination, voted against in vitro fertilization. The delegation criticized the destruction of embryos and called on Southern Baptists to “only use reproductive technologies consistent with that statement, especially in the number of embryos generated in the in vitro fertilization process.”

Updated: 3:43 p.m.