Republicans block another vote on IVF protections as Harris makes it a 2024 issue

WASHINGTON — For the second time in four months, Senate Democrats forced a vote on the Right To IVF Act, only to be blocked by Republicans who called it unnecessary and politically motivated as Vice President Kamala Harris seeks to make access to in vitro fertilization a 2024 campaign issue.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., forced the vote Tuesday after Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump called himself "a leader on fertilization, IVF" at the recent debate with Harris and floated a vague plan to mandate that insurance companies or the government cover the treatment for free.

The vote was 51-44, falling short of the 60 needed to break a filibuster, with Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine again voting with Democrats in favor of the bill. All other GOP senators present voted against it.

The bill would establish broad protections and nationwide rights for individuals to access in vitro fertilization — or IVF — treatments and ensure that health providers can offer those services without restrictions or interference.

Harris, the Democratic nominee, said in the recent ABC debate that “under Donald Trump’s abortion bans, couples who pray and dream of having a family are being denied IVF treatments.”

Trump hit back, expressing his support for IVF and noting that the “very negative” Alabama Supreme Court ruling that threatened access to IVF treatment was overridden by the state Legislature.

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Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., dismissed it as “another show vote” and vowed that “Republicans support IVF, full stop.”

“This is not an attempt to make law. This is not an attempt to get an outcome or to legislate,” Thune said. “This is simply an attempt by Democrats to try and create a political issue where there isn’t one.”

After the bill failed Tuesday, Harris said in a statement: “Every woman in every state must have reproductive freedom. Yet, Republicans in Congress 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.”

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., the author of the bill, said she worries that laws could be passed in some states that would define “a fertilized egg as a human being” — as the Alabama Supreme Court did — “which then prevents IVF from being carried out.”

As the bill went down, Duckworth told NBC News that the path to passage is for Democrats to sweep the 2024 election and bring it back up in Congress. She predicted that Democrats would “lift the filibuster” to get around the 60-vote requirement, which would require 50 senators to vote to change the rules.

“I think it’s really important to families around the country to be able to start their families when they want to,” Duckworth said.

Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, the Republican vice presidential nominee, did not vote Tuesday as he campaigns but accused Schumer of playing “political games.”

“President Trump and Senator Vance have made themselves crystal clear: They fully support guaranteed IVF access for every American family,” Vance spokeswoman, Taylor Van Kirk, said.

Republicans have offered a narrower bill, written by Sens. Katie Britt, R-Ala., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, that would cut off Medicaid funding for states if they prohibit IVF. Democrats say the bill contains loopholes.