Democrats to propose new bill on reproductive healthcare before 2024 elections.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is gearing up to bring a Democrat-backed bill focused on federally protecting in vitro fertilization (IVF) to the forefront for a test vote this week. This move comes after facing hurdles in advancing a Democrat-backed birth control bill in the previous week.
With the 2024 general election looming closer, Senate Democrats are placing significant emphasis on reproductive rights, including birth control and IVF. They allege that if Republicans gain power, they will seek to ban these services, as well as abortion.
The IVF bill, championed by Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., is set to undergo a procedural vote on Thursday, but is expected to fall short of the required 60-vote threshold.
The measure has previously been met with resistance from Republicans, who deemed it overly expansive and lacking in provisions for necessary regulations. Earlier this year, Duckworth attempted to bring her bill to a vote via unanimous consent. However, Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., the chair of the Senate Pro-Life Caucus, objected to the proposal, citing it as “a vast overreach full of poison pills that go too far.”
Duckworth dismissed these criticisms from her Republican counterparts as baseless.
While Schumer plans to move forward with a vote on the Democrat-backed bill, Republicans may push for a vote on their alternative IVF proposal. This alternative allows states to regulate the procedure while prohibiting any outright bans.
Senators Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Katie Britt, R-Ala., spearheaded the conservative bill. They have the option to seek unanimous consent to bring their measure to the floor for a vote, a move that is likely to face objection from a Democrat.
According to a source familiar with the matter, Republican senators are considering all potential options at their disposal.
Last week, the Senate held a vote on a Democrat contraception bill that sought to federally protect access to contraception. The vote resulted in a 51-39 count against moving forward with the bill, with Republicans raising concerns about its broad scope. Moderate Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, sided with their Democrat colleagues on the vote.
In the aftermath of the 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which stripped away the constitutional right to abortion and delegated the authority to states to determine if they would ban or restrict the procedure, Democrats are ramping up their focus on abortion and other reproduction-related issues. This issue is emerging as a top priority for Democrats, especially for those facing challenges in swing states and encountering difficulties on topics like the southern border.
