Republicans Pledge Support For IVF As They Block Bill Protecting Access

WASHINGTON — All 49 Senate Republicans signed a statement on Thursday vowing to “strongly support continued nationwide access to” in vitro fertilization, saying the procedure has “allowed millions of aspiring parents to start and grow their families.”

At the same time, Republicans filibustered legislation in the Senate that would enshrine into federal law a right for individuals to receive IVF treatment as well as for doctors to provide treatment, calling the measure unnecessary and a political show vote.

“How strange — all 49 Republicans are willing to sign a piece of paper saying they like IVF, but virtually none of them seem willing to actually vote for a bill that protects IVF,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Thursday. “It shows you how afraid they are of the issue, but how they’re tied in a knot by the MAGA hard-right on choice, and they can’t do anything that the American people want.”

The Right to IVF Act was put on the floor by Democrats as a way to highlight the contrast between the two parties on reproductive rights ahead of the November election. Republicans also blocked a similar effort to codify the right to contraception earlier this month.

In another defensive move, Republicans this week sought to pass their own bill seeking to protect access to IVF services. The legislation, authored by Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Katie Britt (Ala.), would have revoked Medicaid funding to any state that enacts an outright ban on access to IVF. But Democrats blocked the measure, saying it contained loopholes that allowed states to restrict IVF.

“Calling your bill The IVF Protection Act without doing anything to protect IVF is despicable,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), sponsor of the Right to IVF