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The Senate failed for a second time Tuesday to go a invoice defending in vitro fertilization (IVF), a vote that was defeated 51-44.
The laws wanted 60 votes to advance. Republican Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, voted in favor of the invoice, together with all Democrats.
The laws was largely dismissed by Republicans as a political stunt aimed toward garnering assist for susceptible Democrats.
“Republicans assist IVF. Interval. There is no query about it,” Republican Whip John Thune mentioned at a information convention shortly earlier than the vote. “This isn’t an try and make regulation. This isn’t an try and get an end result or to make laws. That is merely an try by Democrats to create a political downside the place there is not one.”
Collins and Murkowski voted for Illinois Democratic candidate Tammy Duckworth IVF Proper Act when it failed in June. However as reproductive rights stay some extent of competition within the upcoming election, Majority Chief Chuck Schumer challenged Republicans to dam the invoice once more.
“If the Senate votes no right this moment and repeals IVF protections once more, that can be additional proof that Mission 2025 is alive and effectively,” Schumer mentioned on the Senate ground earlier Tuesday. “Keep in mind, Donald Trump’s Mission 2025 is affiliated with the Heritage Basis, one of the vital and conservative assume tanks within the nation, and earlier this 12 months they fiercely opposed right this moment’s invoice to guard IVF.”
Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer delivers a speech after the Senate Democratic Caucus luncheon on the Capitol on September 10, 2024.
Rod Lamkey/AP
The vote got here after Trump reaffirmed his assist for IVF throughout his marketing campaign.
At a rally in August, Trump mentioned he and his staff are exploring methods to assist individuals who need in vitro fertilization.
“I’ve checked out it, and what we’ll do is for individuals who use IVF, which is fertilization … the federal government goes to pay for it, or we’ll — we’ll require your insurance coverage firm to pay for it, which can be nice. We will do this,” Trump mentioned on the time.
Throughout his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris on September 10, Trump mentioned he’s “a pacesetter in IVF.”
In response, Schumer mentioned he would deliver the invoice again to the ground for a vote to present Republicans one other likelihood to assist it. It might want 60 votes to go.
Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump, speaks as Democratic presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris listens throughout a presidential debate in Philadelphia, September 10, 2024.
Alex Brandon/AP
“We have seen the Republican Celebration’s nominee for president declare to be a ‘chief in fertility’ and advocate for increasing entry to IVF by requiring insurance coverage firms to cowl IVF therapies — a key provision of the Proper to IVF Act,” Schumer wrote in a letter to his colleagues Sunday. “So we’ll give our Republican colleagues one other likelihood to point out the American folks what they stand for.”
“I need to ask my Republican colleagues right this moment for a second likelihood to assist households combating infertility, or assist Mission 2025, which goals to eradicate reproductive freedoms,” Schumer mentioned.
The Proper to IVF Act combines a number of Democratic payments. It establishes a nationwide proper to entry IVF, expands fertility therapies for veterans, and goals to extend the affordability of fertility care.
Efforts to go the invoice accelerated final summer time after the Alabama Supreme Courtroom dominated that embryos are kids, briefly halting entry to IVF within the state.
However Republicans, who say they assist IVF and level out that it isn’t presently unlawful in any state, criticized the invoice earlier than the June vote, calling it a political stunt and opposing the laws as going too far.
Earlier than the vote, Republicans tried to unanimously go a separate piece of IVF laws. That invoice, sponsored by Sens. Katie Britt, R-Ala., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, would have prohibited states from receiving Medicare funding in the event that they banned entry to IVF.
Their invoice was blocked by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who mentioned the GOP supply was insufficient.
“I have been completely clear in regards to the obtrusive downside with this Republican invoice,” Murray mentioned on the Senate ground. “The stark actuality is that this Republican invoice does nothing to meaningfully shield IVF from the best threats from lawmakers and anti-abortion extremists throughout the nation. It might nonetheless permit states to ban IVF via regulation.”
Senate IVF Invoice Fails Once more After Vote on Primarily Celebration Line
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