WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic-led bill to codify on Thursday broad federal protection for in vitro fertilization In the midst of a growing partisan clash over reproductive rights in the United States.
The vote was 48-47, with just two Republicans voting: Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine. Others in the GOP said the legislation went too far, instead signing off on a watered-down version that Democrats say is ineffective.
the president Joe Biden chastised Senate Republicans who opposed the measure in his statement Thursday night.
“Donald Trump’s MAGA Republican allies voted against protecting access to fertility treatments for women desperately trying to conceive,” Biden said. “This is outrageous and unacceptable.”
It was the Right to IVF Act was voted by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., will leave the GOP in political limbo with less than five months to go before the 2024 election. Democrats, conservative-led Supreme Court decision until 2022 repeal federal abortion rights access to contraception and IVF is also at risk.
Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill. and Cory Booker, DN.J. introduced by this would create a federal right for individuals to access IVF assisted reproductive technology services for providers to offer. procedure and its coverage by insurers. States could not prevent these rights.
Underlying the tension is the belief among many social conservatives that life begins at conception. If written into law, this could mean that embryos discarded as part of the IVF process – a common occurrence – would be treated as murder or manslaughter. Many Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., signed the bill giving human rights to the fertilized egg.
Before the vote, Senate Republicans moved to express their support for IVF. they tried to advance a narrower bill It would cut Medicaid funding for states if they banned IVF. All 49 GOP senators signed a statement by Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., accusing Democrats of waging a “false campaign of fear designed to confuse and confuse the American people.”
“We strongly support continued nationwide access to IVF, which enables millions of would-be parents to start and grow their families,” the senators said.
Murray said the GOP rhetoric is empty because “actions speak louder than words, and the record here tells a very different story.”
“Republicans have introduced their legislation so they can claim to fix the same problem they say doesn’t exist, but their bill has huge loopholes that allow states to restrict IVF in various ways,” he said. “It purposefully ignores what happens to unused embryos, and it does nothing to prevent fetal personhood laws from completely elevating IVF care.”
In an interview before the vote, Murray argued that part of the goal is to convey to voters that the way to protect reproductive rights in the future is to elect more Democrats in the 2024 election.
“I think it’s clear where the votes lie in the current U.S. Senate,” he said. “And the next election will change everything.”