Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are poised to vote on a bill Tuesday pushed by Senate Democrats that would codify protections for in vitro fertilization.
This comes after former President Donald Trump said at a campaign rally last month that if he wins a second term in office, his administration would make IVF treatment free to all women.
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IVF addresses fertility issues in women by fertilizing an egg with sperm in a laboratory. However, many women require multiple rounds of treatment, and a single round can cost tens of thousands of dollars with no guarantee of success.
Democrats are saying that if Republicans want to protect IVF access they should vote on this Senate bill. But Republicans like Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley claim it is a political move by Democrats trying to create a talking point that they can campaign on heading into the 2024 election.
“I’m gonna vote no,” Hawley said Tuesday. “This isn’t an IVF bill. This is an abortion bill. This is a impose abortion on states, on the voters, without their say at all. This is taxpayer funding for all abortions no matter what. This is override state regulations on cloning. I mean, if they wanted to vote on IVF, hey I’m fine with that. Put an IVF bill on the floor. I would support IVF, mandating insurance coverage for it as Trump suggested. But that’s not what this is and they don’t want it to pass… this is just an exercise in political gamesmanship, sadly.”
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This is not the first time that Senate Democrats have tried a move like this. Senate Republicans blocked a Democrat-led push to protect IVF access in June.
However, given Trump’s most recent comments on IVF, Democrats view this as an opportunity to get Senators on the record again and see if they can garner any additional support from Republicans.
Senators are expected to begin voting on the bill at 2:45 p.m. ET and it would need 60 votes to pass. However, at this point, it does appear poised to fail.