Catherine Rusoff
Washington – A Senate Democrat blocked a Republican-led effort to pass legislation aimed at protecting access to in vitro fertilization on Wednesday, amid duel pushes to safeguard access to the procedure after an Alabama Supreme Court ruling thrust the issue into the spotlight earlier this year.
Two Senate Republicans, Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Katie Britt of Alabama, presented the legislation to protect access to IVF last month. But the bill, which would deny Medicaid funds to states that ban in vitro fertilization, was quickly rejected by Democrats, who questioned its scope and mechanism. Still, on Wednesday, senators sought to pass the bill unanimously, meaning a single senator could block its passage.
“As far as I know, all 100 senators in this body support in vitro fertilization,” Cruz said Wednesday on the Senate floor before trying to pass the legislation by unanimous consent. “We invite our colleagues in the Senate on both sides of the aisle to join together in support of this crucial legislation.”
Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington, opposed the motion, calling the bill a “public relations tool, pure and simple.”
“I’m not going to mince words here. It’s ridiculous to claim that this bill protects IVF when it does nothing of the sort,” Murray said, adding that the bill allows states to restrict fertility treatments in other ways.
The bill, known as the IVF Protection Act, would require states to “not prohibit in vitro fertilization” as a condition for states to receive federal funding for Medicaid, which provides health insurance for low-income Americans. It does not force an organization or individual to provide IVF services, and it also does not prevent states from regulating IVF — which some Democrats disagree with.
Britt said the bill would give parents confidence that access to IVF would be protected, while arguing that it would not “go astray” like legislation proposed by Democrats.
Senate Democrats have introduced their own bill to protect access to in vitro fertilization, which they consider more comprehensive. Senator Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat from Illinois, I tried to approve his legislation to protect fertility treatments with the same unanimous consent approach on multiple occasions, attempts that were blocked by a Republican.
The Republican Party’s push for its own bill comes as the Senate is expected to vote on a legislative package to protect access to in vitro fertilization, which includes Duckworth’s measure, as Democrats rally around reproductive rights this month.
“If the Senate GOP truly supports access to IVF, they can prove it by voting on the Democrats’ bill tomorrow,” Murray wrote Wednesday on social media.
Meanwhile, Republicans criticized the efforts as part of a summer of “scare tactics.”
“The bottom line is the American people deserve better,” Britt said of the Democrat’s plan. “And there is no better path than our bill, the path of common solutions, not showy votes or intimidation tactics.”
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