Senate Republicans Block I.V.F. Protection Bill a Second Time, Breaking With Trump

Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked an election-season bid by Democrats to advance legislation that would guarantee federal protections and insurance coverage for in vitro fertilization treatments, the second time in three months that the G.O.P. has thwarted the broadly popular measure.

Democrats orchestrated the failed vote, just weeks before the November elections, in part to highlight Republican opposition to abortion rights and its implications for access to other reproductive health care services.

They sought to remind voters that the G.O.P. was holding firm against federal protections for I.V.F. even after the party’s presidential nominee, former President Donald J. Trump, called himself a “leader” on the issue and said he supported requiring insurance companies or the federal government to cover the treatments. Mr. Trump did not provide any specifics about how that would work.

All but two Republicans present — Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, both of whom support abortion rights — voted against allowing the I.V.F. access bill to move forward, leaving Democrats nine votes short of the 60 necessary to begin debating it. The last time Republicans blocked the legislation in June, Ms. Murkowski and Ms. Collins were also the only G.O.P. lawmakers to cross party lines and vote to move the measure forward.

Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and majority leader, used Mr. Trump's recent statements as an opening to revisit an issue that has become the biggest political liability for vulnerable Republicans facing competitive races in November. With polls showing that even a majority of Republican voters support access to I.V.F., Republican lawmakers have been trying to airbrush or at times