Senate Republicans block IVF package as Democrats highlight reproductive rights

Washington — Senate Republicans blocked legislation that would protect access to IVF on Tuesday, in a vote that Democrats held to draw attention to the issue after former President Donald Trump's recent statements supporting the fertility treatments.

The package, called the Right to IVF Act, would establish a nationwide right "to receive fertility treatment from a health care provider, in accordance with widely accepted and evidence-based medical standards of care." Other provisions aim to make the treatments more affordable, and require insurance companies to cover fertility care. 

The legislation was first blocked three months ago by Senate Republicans, nearly all of whom argued the bill was too broad. Democrats dared the GOP to reconsider their votes Tuesday, with fewer than 50 days until Election Day.

"If Donald Trump and Republicans want to protect people's right to access IVF, they can vote yes on it," Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, who sponsored the legislation, said in an interview with CBS News ahead of the vote. "He's shown that it only takes one sentence from him, and the Republican Party will fall in line behind him."

The legislation needed 60 votes to move forward. The vote was 51 to 44, with just two Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — joining Democrats in voting to advance the measure. Collins and Murkowski also backed the package in June. 

In a statement, Vice President Kamala Harris said Republicans "have once again made clear that they will not protect access to the fertility treatments many couples need to fulfill their dream of having a child."

"Their opposition to a woman's freedom to make decisions about her own body is extreme, dangerous, and wrong," the Democratic presidential nominee said. "Our administration will always fight to protect reproductive freedoms, which must include access to IVF."

The politics of IVF

The issue of IVF and fertility treatments was thrust into the national spotlight early this year, when the Alabama Supreme Court deemed that embryos are children under state law, which prompted providers to temporarily halt fertility treatments in the state. Since then, amid concern about access to IVF in Alabama and beyond, many Republicans have expressed their support for the popular fertility treatments, including Trump.

In August, Trump said he supports making IVF free for patients, either by requiring insurance plans to cover the treatments or having the government foot the bill. In last week's presidential debate, Trump claimed he has been a "leader on fertilization." His comments have earned him rebukes from some Christian conservatives who oppose the practice because it can involve the destruction of embryos.

Democrats have sought to tie IVF to reproductive rights more broadly, arguing that the Supreme Court's 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade opened the door to restrictions on other procedures. Trump appointed three of the Supreme Court justices who voted to eliminate the national right to an abortion.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, appearing with more than a dozen Senate Democrats at a news conference on Tuesday, said that since the Alabama ruling, "we've seen Republicans tie themselves in knots over their support for IVF."


"And then, when the rubber hits the road, they vote no," Schumer added. 

The New York Democrat said the upper chamber voted again on the package due to Trump's recent pledges of support for the issue, including the insurance coverage mandate.

Senate Republicans have repeatedly expressed support for IVF, while claiming that the  Democratic package goes too far. When GOP Sens. Katie Britt of Alabama and Ted Cruz of Texas unveiled their own package to protect access to the procedure in May, Democrats quickly rejected it, questioning its scope and its enforcement mechanism. The GOP bill would have made access to IVF a condition for states to receive federal funding for Medicaid. 

On Tuesday, when Cruz tried to pass the legislation under unanimous consent, Sen. Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat, objected, urging that it "does nothing to meaningfully protect IVF from the biggest threats from lawmakers and anti-abortion extremists all over this country." 

Britt and Cruz said ahead of the vote that neither of them had been approached by Democrats about a pathway forward. 

"If they authentically wanted to protect IVF, if they really cared about women and parents who were wanting to bring a child into the world … I think we would be the first two people you'd come talk to to figure out how to have a path forward," Britt said on the Senate floor. 

Ahead of the vote, Senate Republican Whip John Thune called the vote a "show," while predicting that the outcome "is not going to be any different than it was when we had this same vote three months ago."

"Republicans support IVF, full stop," Thune told reporters at a news conference Tuesday afternoon. "This is not an attempt to make law. This is not an attempt to get an outcome or to legislate. This is simply an attempt by Democrats to try and create a political issue where there isn't one."