Senate to vote again on IVF protections in election-year push

WASHINGTON -- The Senate will vote for the second time this year on legislation that would establish a nationwide right to in vitro fertilization — Democrats’ latest election-year attempt to force Republicans into a defensive stance on women’s health issues.The bill, which the Senate will vote on Tuesday, has little chance of passing this Congress, as Republicans already blocked the same bill earlier this year.But Democrats are hoping to use the do-over vote to put pressure on Republican congressional candidates and lay out a contrast between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump in the presidential race, especially as Trump has called himself a “ leader on IVF.”The push started earlier this year after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled 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 enact a law to provide legal protections for the clinics.Democrats quickly capitalized, holding a vote in June on the bill from Illinois Sen.Tammy Duckworth and warning that the U.S.

Supreme Court could go after the procedure next after it overturned the right to an abortion in 2022.The legislation would also increase access to the procedure and lower costs.

“The hard right has set its sights on a new target,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the floor Monday.All but two Republicans voted against the Democratic legislation, arguing that the federal government shouldn’t tell states what to do.They said the bill was an unserious effort.Still, Republicans have scrambled to counter Democrats on the issue, with many making clear that they support IVF treatments.

Trump last month announced plans, without additional details, to require health insurance companies or the federal government to pay for the common fertility treatment.In his debate with Harris earlier this month, Trump said he was a “leader” on the issue and ...