Senate Democrats say they don’t believe Donald Trump when he says he supports access to fertility treatments and that his pledge to offer free in vitro fertilization in a potential second administration is bogus.
“I doubt that Donald Trump even knows what the acronym ‘IVF’ stands for. Heck, I’m not even sure half the time that he can spell IVF,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth said at a press briefing. “Despite the incoherent, delusional and frankly irrational ramblings that came out of his mouth last week, he is the reason that IVF is at risk in the first place.”
Most Republicans on Tuesday once again blocked the Right to IVF Act in the Senate, a bill that mirrored Trump’s promise to cover full IVF costs if he wins in November. Of all the Republican senators who voted, only Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins joined Democrats to vote in favor.
“[Trump] is a guy who is trapped in his own decision to rip away abortion services and reproductive freedom with his decisions,” Sen. Debbie Stabenow told NOTUS on a Harris campaign press call. “So he’s scrambling; that’s what he always does. I’m not sure he even knows what IVF is.”
At last week’s presidential debate, Trump called himself a “leader on fertilization” when reiterating his support for IVF, which prompted jokes on social media on whether the former president knew how to properly talk about the topic. His campaign has not offered any specifics on how Trump’s plan to offer free IVF would work.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the vote was held for a second time this year to challenge Trump’s IVF stance. “It’s time for Republicans to live up to their words,” Schumer told reporters before the vote.
Senate Minority Whip John Thune called the IVF vote a “show vote.”
“Republicans support IVF. Full Stop. No question about that,” Thune told reporters ahead of the vote. “This is not an attempt to make law. This is not an attempt to get an outcome or to legislate. This is simply an attempt by Democrats to try and create a political issue where there isn’t one.”
Ahead of the Right to IVF Act vote, Republican Sen. Katie Britt attempted to pass her IVF Protection Act via unanimous consent, but it was blocked by Democrats. The Republican bill would ban states from completely prohibiting IVF but would allow them to regulate the practice, which health experts say would negatively impact access to the procedure. (There is currently no state specifically targeting IVF.)
Republicans have pivoted to IVF as abortion continues to be one of the party’s toughest issues this election cycle in the post-Roe era. Following an Alabama Supreme Court decision that temporarily restricted access to IVF in the state, Republicans have scrambled to communicate their support for IVF — all while blocking legislation in the Senate multiple times that would protect access to the procedure (Tuesday’s vote is also expected to fail).
One House Republican, Rep. Mike Kelly, though told NOTUS that the GOP’s focus on IVF is “all about elections.”
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Oriana González is a reporter at NOTUS.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated with additional reporting.