Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth urging the passage of a bill that would give women access to IVF

Senate Democrats are seeking to highlight Republicans’ resistance to legislation that would make it a right nationwide for women to access in vitro fertilization and other fertility treatments. They are holding a vote as part of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s effort to drive an election-year contrast on reproductive care. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a military veteran who has used the fertility treatment to have her two children, has championed the bill, called the Right to IVF Act. The bill would also expand access through insurance as well as for military members and veterans. But most Republicans were expected to vote against advancing the bill, instead offering alternative legislation to discourage outright bans on IVF. Democrats in turn blocked it.