Republicans block Right to IVF Act, Democrats have done the same to them

Senate Republicans blocked a bill that would create a statutory right to access fertility treatments, specifically IVF. The Right to IVF Act would also allow the Department of Justice to file civil actions against any person or entity that tries to impose limits. 

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.: “Access to IVF can no longer be taken for granted. From the moment the Maga Supreme Court eliminated Roe, the hard right made clear that they’d keep going.”

This was largely a show vote to make a political point ahead of the election. Democrats had previously brought the same bill up for a vote in June and Republicans blocked it then too. 

Sen. Patty Murray, D-WA: “It lowers the cost of IVF for families with stronger insurance coverage requirements, and it helps more veterans and service members get IVF. Last time, Republicans killed this bill, and Trump said nothing. Now he says he is a leader on IVF.”

Despite voting against the bill, Republicans say they support IVF. 

Senator Roger Marshall is an OB/GYN who has delivered more than 5,000 babies. He says he’s also helped hundreds of couples conceive through IVF. 

But he voted against the bill because he says it doesn’t have good guardrails. 

Sen. Roger Marshall, R-KA: “It doesn’t have any type of religious protections for those people that don’t want to participate in it, and it doesn’t even define require a diagnosis of infertility for IVF to be covered. So I think it’s bad medicine, it’s bad policy. “

Marshall says he would have voted for the bill proposed by Senators Britt and Cruz. That bill does not compel anyone to provide the services and allows states to create health and safety standards. The legislation makes a state ineligible to receive medicaid funding if they create an outright ban of IVF. 

Republicans described that proposal as the right balance between life and liberty. Democrats blocked it the same way the GOP blocked theirs. 

Republicans want religious protections because if any of the embryos created during the IVF process aren’t used, they can be destroyed. That would require those who believe life begins at conception to go against their religious teachings. 

I’m Ray Bogan for Straight Arrow News, for more unbiased reporting from our nation’s capital, download the straight arrow news app and turn on notifications.