On Tuesday, Senate Republicans successfully blocked a bill that would have provided legal protections for fertility treatments as well as required insurance companies to cover the treatments. The move comes after Donald Trump promised to make either the government or insurance companies pay for in vitro fertilization treatment last month, and just one week after Trump claimed he was "a leader on IVF" during his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris.
The Right to IVF Act, written by Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth, whose two daughters were born with help from fertility treatments, was a direct response to the Alabama State Supreme Court ruling that embryos were “children” and not exempt from the state’s draconian anti-abortion laws. Also in direct response to that ruling, the Alabama legislature swiftly passed a law that provided criminal and civil immunity to both recipients and providers of the treatment.
Since the drama in Alabama, Republicans have fallen over themselves backtracking and claiming to just love, love, love IVF. One such hypocrite is Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who has made a big to-do about his support of the service.
On Tuesday, Cruz voted against protecting IVF.
All but two Republicans present, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, voted against the bill’s passage, while Trump running mate JD Vance skipped the vote to campaign in the Midwest. The final vote—51 for and 44 against—did not meet the 60-vote threshold of the Senate’s existing anti-democratic filibuster rules.
This is the second time Republicans have blocked IVF legislation—the last time was in June. The GOP continues to give a lot of lip service to women’s reproductive rights while refusing to protect those rights.
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