A Republican senator on Wednesday blocked quick passage of a bill that would establish federal protections for in vitro fertilization and other fertility treatments in the wake of a ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court that frozen embryos should be considered children.
Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, Republican of Mississippi, objected to approval of the measure, which would establish a federal right protecting access to I.V.F. and fertility treatments, scuttling its chances for now.
Senator Tammy Duckworth, Democrat of Illinois, sought to pass the bill on Wednesday under a procedure that allows any one senator to object and stop it in its tracks, effectively daring Republicans to oppose it and highlighting divisions within the G.O.P. on how to handle the issue.
“The bill before us today is a vast overreach that is full of poison pills that go way too far — far beyond ensuring legal access to I.V.F.,” Ms. Hyde-Smith said on the Senate floor, adding that she supported access to I.V.F. but that “this bill misses the mark.”
The legislation states that people have a right to “access assisted reproductive technology” — and that doctors have the right to provide it and insurers the right to cover it — without fear of prosecution.
Democrats orchestrated the attempt to pass the bill as they sought to point out the hypocrisy of Republicans who have rushed to voice support for I.V.F. after the Alabama ruling, even though many of them have sponsored legislation that declares that life begins at the moment of fertilization. Such a bill could severely curtail or even outlaw aspects of the treatments.
“This is really to call out my Republican colleagues,” Ms. Duckworth, who had two daughters via I.V.F. treatment, said in an interview on Wednesday. “If this is urgent and you care deeply about this as you say you do — like you’ve been saying in the last 72-plus hours since the Alabama Supreme Court ruling — then don’t object. Let this bill pass.” She argued that the bill’s protections were all the more essential since the legal decision.
The action was the latest instance of Republicans trying to walk a political tightrope — made more perilous by the Alabama ruling — since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and made real many Americans’ fears of losing their access to reproductive health care. Democrats have vowed to pummel Republicans on the issue this election year, buoyed by polls that show that access to abortion and contraception is a major concern for voters that could drive them away from Republicans.
“Make no mistake about it: What happened in Alabama is a direct consequence — a direct consequence — of the hard-right MAGA Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade,” Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, said on Tuesday. “And make no mistake about it: There will be other awful, restrictive decisions emanating from the Dobbs decision.”
At least three medical providers in Alabama have paused I.V.F. treatments since the ruling, which stemmed from cases brought by couples whose embryos were destroyed in 2020 when a hospital patient removed frozen embryos from tanks of liquid nitrogen and dropped them on the floor.
Ms. Duckworth previously tried to pass a similar bill with unanimous consent in 2022, but Ms. Hyde-Smith objected. Ms. Duckworth said before Wednesday’s action that she planned to seek a roll-call vote on the bill if Republicans blocked it, and that Mr. Schumer was “very supportive” about scheduling one after Congress funds the government ahead of a pair of shutdown deadlines this week and next.
Some Republicans have said they would look at the bill, but most others argued that it should be up to state legislatures — not the federal government — to protect fertility treatments. They sought to cast the Alabama ruling as an outlier and said the Legislature there would surely act soon to protect I.V.F.
“The Dobbs decision said…
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