Senate GOP blocks IVF bill again as Democrats spotlight issue ahead of elections

By Clare Foran, Morgan Rimmer and Ted Barrett, CNN

Washington (CNN) — Senate Republicans voted Tuesday to block a bill that would guarantee access to in vitro fertilization nationwide –- as Democrats spotlight the issue in the run-up to the November elections.

Democrats brought the bill back to the Senate floor after Republicans previously blocked the measure from advancing in June.

Many Republicans criticized the Democrat-led legislation as unnecessary overreach and a political show vote, while saying they do support IVF. The tally was 51 to 44 with GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins crossing over to vote with Democrats in favor of advancing the bill on a procedural vote.

The vote is part of a broader push by Senate Democrats to draw a contrast with Republicans over reproductive health care as the 2024 elections approach.

It also gave Democrats an opportunity to put Republicans on the spot after GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump said in August that, if elected, he would implement a policy to require either the government or insurance companies to pay for IVF treatment. Democrats have questioned the sincerity of the proposal.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday pressed for Republicans to join Democrats in voting to advance the IVF bill.

“We’re already beginning to hear the same tired and predictable and unconvincing excuses from our Republican colleagues looking for a way to vote against IVF protections,” Schumer said. “To my Republican colleagues, if you truly support IVF, then vote for a bill that actually protects IVF through the letter of the law. Republicans cannot claim to be pro-family on the one hand, while then voting against IVF protection bills on the other hand.”

Senate Republican Whip John Thune was asked last week if Trump’s comments on IVF coverage make things more difficult for GOP senators when they vote on the bill.

“I don’t know of any Republicans not favor of IVF,” he said. “The mandate part, that’s a challenging issue for lots of reasons, not the least of which is what it does to insurance costs. We put a lot of mandates on insurance companies as it is already.”

He called Schumer’s move a “show vote” and said he expects “robust conversation” in his conference.

The legislation the Senate took up – the Right to IVF Act – would enshrine into federal law a right for individuals to receive IVF treatment as well as for doctors to provide treatment, which would override any attempt at the state level to restrict access.

The bill seeks to make IVF treatment more affordable by mandating coverage for fertility treatments under employer-sponsored insurance and certain public insurance plans. It would also expand coverage of fertility treatments, including IVF, under US military service members and veterans’ health care.

The IVF legislative package was introduced by Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois along with Patty Murray of Washington state and Cory Booker of New Jersey.

Access to IVF came into the national spotlight after Alabama’s Supreme Court said, in a first-of-its-kind ruling earlier this year, that frozen embryos are children and those who destroy them can be held liable for wrongful death – a decision that reproductive rights advocates warned could have a chilling effect on infertility treatments.

While the state’s legislature took action aimed at protecting IVF in the wake of the ruling, Democrats argue that this is only one example of how access to reproductive health care is under threat across the nation.

Republicans put forward alternate proposals

Senate Republicans have tried to put forward alternate proposals related to IVF.

GOP Sen. Rick Scott of Florida went to the floor on Monday night to attempt to pass a bill aimed at making IVF more affordable, by unanimous consent. Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon objected, and instead urged their colleagues to support Democrats’ bill during Tuesday’s vote.

The House version of Scott’s bill is sponsored by GOP Rep. Kat Cammack of Florida The legislation does not go as far as the Democrats’ plan to expand coverage of IVF, but it would double contribution limits for Health Savings Accounts and decouple those accounts from high deductible insurance plans in order to make it easier to afford the procedure.

Another Senate GOP bill aimed at addressing concerns about IVF was introduced earlier this year. Sens. Katie Britt and Ted Cruz’s legislation, called the IVF Protection Act, has been criticized by Democrats who argue that its language leaves the door open to possible restrictions in the future, though it does say that states who prohibit access to IVF would not be eligible for Medicaid funding.

On Tuesday, Democratic Sen. Patty Murray blocked a uninamous consent request to pass Britt and Cruz’s IVF bill, ahead of the vote on the Democrats’ broader IVF package.

“The cold hard reality is that this Republican bill does nothing to meaningfully protect IVF from the biggest threats from lawmakers and anti-abortion extremists all over this country. It would still allow states to regulate IVF out of existence,” argued Murray.

Cruz and Britt’s bill was previously blocked by Democrats in June.

“Our bill is the only bill that protects IVF access while safeguarding religious liberty,” Britt said. “We are going to have a show vote when we’ve been talking and saying that we want to protect access to IVF, but yet no one is working to actually get to the 60-vote threshold, which makes me wonder how serious my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are about this.”

CNN’s Aaron Pellish contributed to this report.

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