Once again, Senate Republicans refuse to pass bill ensuring IVF access

It was almost a month in the past when Donald Trump, apropos of nothing, printed a one-sentence missive to his social media platform. “The Republican Party is charging forward on many fronts,” the previous president wrote, “and I am very proud that we are a LEADER on I.V.F.”

No one was altogether certain what he was speaking about — particularly given what number of of his allies on the precise are routinely opposed to IVF — although the GOP candidate added some readability six days later. In an interview with NBC News, Trump mentioned he’d have both the federal government or personal insurance coverage corporations cowl the price of IVF therapies for American girls who want it.

It was a wierd announcement for a wide range of causes, and for reproductive rights advocates, the sudden vow was troublesome to take critically. But the White House candidate’s declaration — Trump not solely helps IVF, he claims it must be free — additionally gave Senate Democrats an idea.

If the Republican Party’s dominant chief goes to inform voters that the GOP helps cleared the path of IVF, then possibly Senate Republicans would possibly rethink their opposition to the Right to IVF Act, which Trump successfully endorsed on-line?

GOP senator rejected this identical bill in June, however the former president impressed Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to give his opponents on the opposite aspect of the aisle a second attempt. To the shock of nobody, Republicans — those voters are apparently supposed to see as “leaders” on IVF — rejected the laws once more. NBC News reported:

For the second time in 4 months, Senate Democrats pressured a vote on the Right To IVF Act, solely to be blocked by Republicans who referred to as it pointless and politically motivated as Vice President Kamala Harris seeks to make access to in vitro fertilization a 2024 marketing campaign problem.

The laws was written by three Senate Democrats — Washington’s Patty Murray, Illinois’ Tammy Duckworth and New Jersey’s Cory Booker — and it will prohibit states from imposing restrictions on the therapies, whereas additionally making IVF extra reasonably priced.

Two Republican senators — Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and Maine’s Susan Collins — voted with the Democratic majority within the newest procedural vote, however each different GOP member balked. The ultimate tally was 51 to 44, with some senators lacking the vote.

To advance, proponents wanted 60 votes, they usually clearly didn’t come particularly shut.

If these circumstances sound in any respect acquainted, it’s not your creativeness. In late February, Duckworth sought unanimous consent — a procedural transfer designed to assist rapidly advance uncontroversial measures — on the Access to Family Building Act, which might create authorized protections for IVF on the nationwide degree. It additionally failed in response to Republican opposition.

Two weeks later, Murray tried to pass a bill to develop access to in vitro fertilization for navy service members and veterans. It, too, was derailed by Republican opposition.

In June, GOP senators rejected the Right to IVF Act, and now those self same Republicans have derailed the identical bill once more.

“Republicans regularly claim that they are the party that stands up for families. Well, today’s bill is about as pro-family as it gets,” Schumer mentioned forward of the vote. “It helps create families, IVF does. It says that access to IVF should be basic right for all. And it will make sure insurance companies cover IVF treatments in their plans.”

The New York Democrat added, “Republicans can’t just talk their way past an issue as personal as IVF; what ultimately matters is how they vote on the issue.”

The reference to Republican “talk” was of explicit curiosity, as a result of in June each member of the Senate Republican convention — actually, all 49 members — signed on to a joint statement, expressing their collective help for IVF access. “We strongly support continued nationwide access to IVF, which has allowed millions of aspiring parents to start and grow their families,” the GOP senators mentioned.

The result's the newest in a sequence of “watch what they do, not what they say” moments.