WASHINGTON — The Senate will vote for the second time this year on a bill that would establish a national right to in vitro fertilization — the latest attempt by Democrats in an election year to force Republicans to take a defensive stance on women’s health issues.
The bill, which will be voted on Tuesday in the Senate, is unlikely to pass Congress, as Republicans blocked the same bill earlier this year. But Democrats hope to use the new vote to put pressure on Republican candidates in Congress and highlight the contrast between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump in the presidential race, especially since Mr. Trump has called himself a “leader in IVF.”
The campaign began earlier this year after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law. Several clinics in the state have suspended IVF treatments until the Republican-led Legislature rushes to pass legislation to provide legal protections for the clinics.
Democrats quickly took advantage of that situation, holding a vote in June on Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s bill and warning that the U.S. Supreme Court could take aim at the procedure after it strikes down abortion rights in 2022. The legislation would also increase access to the procedure and reduce costs.
“The far right has set its sights on a new target,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday.
All but two Republicans voted against the Democratic legislation, arguing that the federal government should not dictate to states what to do. They called the bill a flimsy effort.
Republicans have tried to counter Democrats on the issue, with many expressing clear support for IVF treatments. Last month, Trump announced, without providing further details, his intention to require health insurance companies or the federal government to pay for the common fertility treatment.
During his debate with Harris earlier this month, Trump said he was a “leader” on the issue and spoke of the Alabama court’s “very negative” ruling, which was later overturned by the legislature.
But the issue threatens to become a source of vulnerability for Republicans, since some state laws passed by their own party grant legal personhood not only to fetuses but also to any embryos destroyed during the IVF process.
Duckworth, a veteran who used fertility treatment to have her two children, led the Senate effort on the legislation. “How dare you?” she said in comments to her Republican colleagues after the first vote blocking the bill.
Republicans have tried to propose alternatives on the issue, including legislation that would discourage states from explicitly banning the treatment, but those bills have been blocked by Democrats who say they don’t go far enough.
Republican Sens. Katie Britt of Alabama and Ted Cruz of Texas attempted in June to pass a bill that would threaten to cut off Medicaid funding in states that ban IVF. Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida said in a speech at the time that his daughter was currently undergoing IVF treatment and proposed expanding the flexibility of health savings accounts.
Cruz, who is running for re-election in Texas, said it showed that Democrats’ efforts to pass the law were a “cynical political move.”
