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WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — Senate Republicans blocked a vote Tuesday on a Democratic bill to force every state to allow and insurance companies to cover embryo-destructive in vitro fertilization (IVF), citing the bill’s infringement of conscience rights and establishment of a nationwide “right” for unmarried people and homosexual and gender-confused individuals to use the technology to procure children.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s (D-IL) “Right to IVF Act” sought to guarantee that clients can obtain and practitioners can offer so-called “fertility treatment, including assisted reproductive technology services,” and to ban states from enacting what the bill called “harmful or unwarranted limitations or requirements.”

It further required a “group health plan or a health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage” to include coverage for fertility procedures “if such plan or coverage provides coverage for obstetrical services,” and such procedures could not be denied based on marriage status, sex, “sexual orientation and gender identity,” or “any other protected class that is covered by Federal law.”

The Senate voted 51-44 in favor of the measure, falling short of the 60-vote filibuster threshold. All Republicans voted against it or did not vote except for liberal Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine.

The “partisan Democrat” bill “deliberately overturns the conscience protections of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who back in May proposed his own bill to make states allow IVF, albeit without forcing insurers to cover it. “It is unfortunate that Democrats have abandoned what used to be a bipartisan commitment to religious liberty and they are now more than willing to overturn religious liberty protections.”

“Senate Republicans spent months tying themselves into knots claiming that they’re in favor of protecting IVF. But when it mattered most—when it came time to vote—they showed their true colors and voted no,” declared Democrat Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. “Twice.”

For months, former President and 2024 Republican White House nominee Donald Trump has been casting himself as a “leader on fertilization,” not only coming out against banning IVF but promising his own federal insurance mandate of the practice.

During a rally in Wisconsin, Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), addressed the seeming tension between his ticket and his party by stating, “the Senate did not block an IVF bill. The Senate blocked a ridiculous show vote bill that had no chance of passing.”

“Did Kamala Harris and Chuck Schumer come together and produce a bipartisan bill?” he asked. “No, they shoved through a vote today knowing it would have no chance of passing because they wanted to be able to say, we support IVF and the other guys don’t.”

He concluded, “But that’s not a real support of IVF, that’s political showmanship and I think Wisconsinites are sick of it. Let’s do real legislation and real policy in this country, not these ridiculous show votes.”

On social media, Trump advisor Stephen Miller added, “The Schumer bill required taxpayers to fund IVF for ‘transgenders’ who have castrated themselves with drugs and surgery—and created a civil right for ‘transgenders’ to pursue gene editing, sex selection and cloning technology. Bill was filled with poison pills.”

The IVF process is unethical, as it entails the conscious creation of scores of “excess” embryonic humans only to be killed and human lives being treated like commodities to be bartered over. It has been estimated that more than a million embryos are frozen in storage in the United States following IVF, and that as many as 93% of all embryos produced through IVF are eventually destroyed. A 2019 NBC News profile of Florida IVF practitioner Craig Sweet acknowledged that his practice has discarded or abandoned approximately a third of the embryos it places in cold storage.

Critics – including the Catholic Church – further warn that IVF denies the right of children to be conceived in the loving union of a husband and wife; in cases where it is used by singles, guarantees they will be raised without a mother or without a father; and allows homosexuals to obtain children, exposing them to the risk of abuse. 

READ: ‘Married’ homosexual arrested for child pornography allegedly planned to abuse surrogate baby

IVF’s profile as a national issue rose earlier this year when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are children under the law. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall soon confirmed he had no intention of prosecuting IVF facilities based on the ruling, and the state quickly enacted a new law protecting the industry. 

With just a handful of exceptions, most national Republicans have rushed to declare their support for IVF, fearing the political ramifications of being branded as opposing the practice, including Trump and the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Pray for an end to IVF and the protection of human embryos: Join our prayer pledge