WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Thursday is slated to vote on a Democratic bill that would establish protections for in vitro fertilization — the latest election-year effort by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer aimed at drawing a contrast between Republicans and Democrats on women's reproductive issues.
Schumer and Democrats point to the Supreme Court’s June 2022 ruling overturning federal abortion protections and a February Alabama Supreme Court ruling that deemed frozen embryos should be afforded the same legal protections as children as examples of Republicans restricting reproductive rights. Long Island House Republicans, locked in competitive races, are looking to distance themselves from those rulings by proclaiming their support for House bills calling for IVF and birth control protections. Schumer (D-N.
Y.) in an interview with Newsday ahead of Thursday’s vote said “people should know how each of their elected officials stand on this issue” before the November election. “I hope everyone, Democrat and Republican, supports this legislation, but if they don't, I think it's politically perilous for them,” Schumer said when asked what impact he believed the vote on IVF would have on New York's down ballot races.
Schumer said the bill would require health insurance providers to cover fertility treatments and protect IVF providers from liability. “People say, well, it's not at risk in New York. Well, that's what we said about abortion,” Schumer said.
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