Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) plans to force Senate Republicans to vote again on a bill they blocked in June to protect women’s access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments, something that’s become a hot topic in the 2024 election.
“The Senate will vote once again to take up the very same bill we voted on earlier this summer, establishing a nationwide right to IVF and making it easier for people to access this critical treatment,” Schumer announced on the Senate floor.
“Republicans can’t claim to be profamily on one hand, only to block profamily policies like federal protections for IVF and the child tax credit. But that’s what they did this summer, and I hope we get a different outcome when we vote for a second time.”
Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) were the only Republicans to vote to advance the bill when Schumer brought it to the floor in June.
The measure, sponsored by Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), would establish a statutory right for individuals to access IVF treatments and doctors to provide and insurance companies to cover those procedures.
It would authorize the Department of Justice to file civil lawsuits to protect individuals’ rights to receive IVF treatments.
The bill would also allow service members to freeze sperm or eggs prior to deployment to a combat zone or hazardous duty.
It would make fertility treatments more affordable by requiring employer-sponsored insurance and public insurance plans to cover them.
The legislation only received 48 votes when it came to the floor in June, but Democratic senators say Schumer wants to keep the spotlight on the issue of women’s access to health care, which they see as a top issue for Democratic candidates in tough races.