WASHINGTON — For the second time in four months, Senate Democrats forced a vote on the Right To IVF Act but were blocked by Republicans who called it unnecessary and politically motivated as Vice President Kamala Harris seeks to make access to in vitro fertilization a 2024 campaign issue.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., forced the vote Tuesday after Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump called himself a “leader in fertilization, IVF” during the recent debate with Harris and floated a vague plan to require insurance companies or the government to cover the treatment for free.
The vote was 51 to 44, short of the 60 votes needed to end a filibuster. Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine again voted with Democrats in favor of the bill. All other Republican senators present voted against it.
The bill would establish broad nationwide protections and rights for individuals to access in vitro fertilization — or IVF — treatments and ensure that health care providers can offer these services without restrictions or interference.
Harris, the Democratic candidate, said during the recent ABC debate that “under Donald Trump’s abortion ban, couples who pray and dream of having a family are being denied IVF treatments.”
Trump responded by expressing support for IVF and pointing out that the Alabama Supreme Court’s “very negative” ruling that threatened access to IVF treatment had been overturned by the state legislature.
Senate Minority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., dismissed the move as “another show vote” and vowed that “Republicans support IVF, period.”
“This is not an attempt to make a law. This is not an attempt to get a result or legislate,” Thune said. “This is simply an attempt by Democrats to create a political problem where there is none.”
After the bill failed Tuesday, Harris said in a statement: “Every woman in every state deserves reproductive freedom. Yet Republicans in Congress have once again made clear that they will not protect access to the fertility treatments that many couples need to realize their dream of having a child.”
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat from Illinois who sponsored the bill, said she was concerned that laws could be passed in some states that would define “a fertilized egg as a human being” — as the Alabama Supreme Court did — “which would then prevent IVF from being performed.”
As the bill was being considered, Duckworth told NBC News that the path to passage was for Democrats to win the 2024 election and resubmit it to Congress. She predicted that Democrats would “raise the filibuster” to bypass 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 a family whenever they want,” Duckworth said.
Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, the Republican vice presidential nominee, did not vote Tuesday during his campaign but accused Schumer of playing “political games.”
“President Trump and Senator Vance have been very clear: They fully support guaranteed access to IVF for every American family,” Vance spokeswoman Taylor Van Kirk said.
Republicans have proposed a more restrictive bill, authored by Sens. Katie Britt, R-Alabama, and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, that would cut Medicaid funding for states that ban IVF. Democrats say the bill is flawed.
