Senate Republicans have blocked legislation that would make it a right nationwide for women to access in vitro fertilization and other fertility treatments.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer forced a vote on the matter Thursday to drive an election-year contrast on reproductive care. But all but two Republicans voted against advancing the bill, ensuring that it only gained 48 votes — well short of the 60 votes needed. Instead, GOP senators offered their own, alternative legislation that would discourage states from enacting explicit bans on the treatment.
Democrats took to the Senate floor to make a series of speeches that highlighted personal stories of how people have been able to have children using IVF.
They say Congress must protect access to the fertility treatment after the Supreme Court in 2022 allowed states to ban abortions and the Alabama Supreme Court in February ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law.
Several clinics in the state suspended IVF treatments until the state enacted a law to provide legal protections for IVF clinics.
“After the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that a frozen embryo is the same, has the exact same rights as a living, breathing person, women who waited for months and spent tens of thousands of dollars and were days away from an IVF appointment were left to wonder if it was all for nothing when their treatment was abruptly canceled,” said Sen. Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat.
Most Republicans in Congress, meanwhile, have expressed support for IVF, but have also largely declined to tell states how to regulate reproductive care.
Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican GOP presidential nominee, met with lawmakers on Thursday and told them that abortion rules should be left to the states. He also said he supported exceptions for rape, incest and to save the life of the mother, according to Republicans in the meetings.
Republicans are seeking to come up with a response to voters' concerns about access to abortion and reproductive care — an issue that is expected to figure largely in the November election.
Following the Supreme Court's ruling Thursday that preserved access to the abortion pill mifepristone, anti-abortion groups expressed dismay while most Republicans remained quiet.
