Key takeaways from the Senate’s second IVF clash

Senate Republicans on Tuesday for the second time blocked a Democratic bill that would have created a federal right to in-vitro fertilization and guaranteed insurance coverage of IVF and other fertility treatments. 

Republicans blocked the same bill in June, and the outcome this time around was never in doubt. Just like in June, the GOP decried it as a show vote. Only Republican Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) voted with Democrats. 

But the vote, held less than two months before the election, was meant to bring the issue back to the forefront of voters’ minds and highlight GOP opposition to IVF and other reproductive rights. 

Here are key takeaways from the legislative encore: 

Democrats staying on offense 

Democrats have focused on IVF in the runup to the November election, and Tuesday’s vote showed they want to continue to hold Republicans’ feet to the fire. 

Democratic leaders decided to call the bill up for a vote again after former President Trump called for universal coverage of IVF treatments — without any details.  

The fact that the vote was the second in less than three months shows just how vulnerable Democrats think Republicans are on the issue. 

“We’ve seen Republicans tie themselves in knots over their support for IVF, claiming they support access to IVF, support insurance paying for IVF treatments, and support helping families pay for IVF. And then when the rubber hits the road, they vote no,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). 

Democrats argue that there’s an ongoing threat to IVF that stems directly from the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade more than two years ago, which Republicans and Trump take credit for. 

Republicans said they support IVF but opposed the bill because it’s unnecessary and a legislative overreach. 

Republicans have struggled with IVF messaging since the Alabama Supreme Court earlier this year ruled frozen embryos are people, which led multiple clinics in the state, including the state’s largest health system, to pause IVF operations for fear of legal repercussions.   

Many Republicans, including Trump, condemned the ruling. But anti-abortion and religious groups backed it and slammed Republicans who spoke out.  

Cruz tries to deflect heat 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a staunchly anti-abortion Republican, tried to deflect some of the Democratic attacks by bringing up his own IVF bill that he introduced with Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.). 

Cruz is facing a reelection battle against well-funded Democratic Rep. Colin Allred (Texas), who has attacked Cruz’s anti-abortion position, which he said has helped put IVF access in jeopardy. 

Cruz’s attempt was blocked by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.). Under the expedited unanimous consent process, any single senator can object to passage.   

“After I ask for consent, we are going to see a Democrat senator stand up and begin speaking. When she begins speaking, you should listen to two magic words, ‘I object.’ If the Democrats say those words ‘I object,’ It will defeat this bill,” he said. 

Murray blasted Cruz’s bill as a “hollow gesture” noting it did not address the issue of fetal personhood, which was the core concern for IVF providers in Alabama that temporarily halted services earlier this year. 

The bill would prevent states from banning IVF, but it would allow them to regulate it, which could negatively impact access. 

Reproductive health advocates have noted that future outright bans on IVF are unlikely. Even Alabama never banned IVF after the ruling, 

Trump stays out of Senate fight  

The former president, who billed himself as “a leader on fertilization” during his debate with Vice President Harris, did not weigh in on either bill.  

The Democrats’ bill essentially mirrored Trump’s IVF promise on the campaign trail, and Democrats said the vote was an opportunity for Republicans to back up their talk. 

“If Republicans are serious about supporting IVF, if Trump’s promise to help families pay for it is more than just bluster, there’s no reason we can’t pass this bill into law,” Murray said in a press conference ahead of the vote.  

Other Democrats said all Trump needed to do was weigh in on social media and Republicans would fall in line. But he didn’t.  

Trump’s pitch was aimed squarely at the moderate women who have turned away from his campaign. But his pledge caught many Republicans by surprise and risked alienating small government conservatives opposed to the cost and federal mandates, as well as religious conservatives opposed to the way IVF is currently practiced in the country.  

“Trump has got a problem. He wants to keep his extremist base totally locked in, riled up and turning out for him, but at the same time, he has come to realize that the policies they’re advancing are deeply unpopular in this country,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told reporters Tuesday.  

“So he hopes he can say two completely contradictory things and that each side won’t hear what he said to the other.”

IVF is safer for GOP than abortion 

Supporting IVF access is a broadly bipartisan issue with fewer risks for Republicans than talking about abortion policy.  

More Americans support IVF than abortion. Survey data from Pew Research Center found that more than two-thirds of Americans say having access to IVF a “good thing,” with less than one in 10 Republicans considering it to be a “bad thing.” 

With Harris’s assumption of the Democratic ticket leaving Republicans less room to ignore reproductive issues, speaking about IVF gives them a platform to pivot to an issue that’s not abortion. 

But vulnerabilities remain for the party, especially when it comes to fetal personhood. Many Republicans seem to agree that embryos are children with equal rights.  

Murray pressed Cruz on Tuesday to explain what the GOP plan would be for unimplanted embryos created through IVF. If an embryo is not viable, if genetic abnormalities are identified or if a patient does not wish to have any more children, common medical practice is to discard them. 

Fertility specialists have warned that considering these embryos to be the same as children could make the procedure too ethically and legally fraught to carry out. 

In his response to Murray on the Senate floor, Cruz did not utter the word “embryo” once, instead accusing Democrats of being “cynical” and trying to “scare voters” with their bill.