Senate to vote on nationwide protections for in vitro fertilization

For the second time this year, the Senate plans to vote Tuesday on a law that would create a nationwide right to IVF.

The bill was already blocked by Republicans earlier this year, but Democrats are hoping to use this second vote to pressure Republican congressional candidates on the hot button issue, the Associated Press reported.

The push to establish national protections for in vitro fertilization (IVF) began after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled in February that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law.

Several clinics in the state suspended IVF treatments until the GOP-led legislature rushed to pass a law in early March to provide legal protections for IVF clinics.

Democrats quickly capitalized on the drama, holding a vote in June on the IVF bill, which would also increase access to the procedure and lower costs.

In that vote, all but two Republicans voted against the legislation, arguing that the federal government shouldn’t tell states what to do, the AP reported.

But the issue could become a weak spot for Republicans as some state laws passed by their own party grant legal personhood not only to fetuses but to any embryos that are destroyed in the IVF process, the AP reported.

Republicans have tried to push alternatives on the issue, including legislation that would discourage states from enacting explicit bans on the treatment, but those bills have been blocked by Democrats who say that doesn’t go far enough, the AP reported.

Republican Sens. Katie Britt of Alabama and Ted Cruz of Texas tried in June to pass a bill that would withhold Medicaid funding for states where IVF is banned. Meanwhile, Sen. Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, has said his daughter is receiving IVF treatment and proposed to expand the flexibility of health savings accounts, the AP reported.

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