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Republican senators killed a bill Tuesday that would have protected IVF.
The Harris-Walz campaign made a forceful case Tuesday morning to protect in vitro fertilization access for millions of Americans as Democrats in the U.S. Senate prepared for a critical vote in the afternoon. Republicans ultimately killed the bill late Tuesday, the second time the GOP has failed to support a pro-IVF measure.
Campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodríguez, U.S. Sens. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, and Wisconsin IVF parent Steven Miller highlighted the pressing need to defend reproductive health services. They also launched direct attacks on former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio U.S. Sen. JD Vance, for their anti-IVF stances.
Related: LGBTQ+ parents share the importance of reproductive technology access amid IVF challenges
Chávez Rodríguez set the stage by criticizing Republicans for their continued opposition to reproductive freedoms, accusing Trump and Vance of running on a platform that would ban IVF and abortion nationwide.
“Their official platform would ban IVF and abortion nationwide, and their record tells the same story,” Chávez Rodríguez said. “JD Vance insults women struggling with fertility, voted against IVF access the last time it came to the floor, and Donald Trump appointed an anti-IVF extremist to the federal bench. If they win this November, they’ll go even further to rip away Americans’ choices and freedoms.”
The attacks on Vance were pointed and personal. “Donald Trump’s running mate couldn’t even bother to show up for today’s Senate vote,” Chávez Rodríguez said. “While Donald Trump and JD Vance are off spreading conspiracy theories or taking another opportunity to insult childless women and couples struggling with fertility, Kamala Harris is fighting for all of our freedoms, all of our families, and our access to healthcare. Our campaign is making it clear that Vice President Harris and Governor Walz are fighting for your right to make decisions about your own body, your own family, and your own future.”
Duckworth shared her personal story of becoming a mother through IVF after a 10-year struggle with infertility. “My two girls are everything to me, but they would never have been born without access to reproductive healthcare,” Duckworth said. She noted that Vance had consistently voted against reproductive rights. “Donald Trump and JD Vance have spent weeks lying about their records on IVF and pretending to champion this cause. But we know time and again when given the chance, they’ll never actually do anything to support IVF.” Duckworth said.
The senator also warned about the broader implications of Project 2025, a 900-page plan to reshape American society spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation that Trump and Vance support, though Trump has been attempting to distance himself from the unpopular vision. According to Reproductive Freedom for All, the plan outlines a dangerous blueprint to gut reproductive freedoms, including banning medication abortion, blocking emergency abortion care, and deploying “personhood” language to classify embryos as legal persons. This could not only end abortion nationwide but also undermine IVF access by treating embryos as children, complicating how unused or non-viable embryos are handled during the IVF process. “The only reason IVF is even at risk right now is because Donald Trump appointed the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade,” Duckworth said, adding that the reproductive rights of millions are now at stake.
Stabenow echoed these concerns and took the opportunity to share how this issue has personally impacted her staff. “Donald Trump’s going to be in Flint, Mich. this evening, and he’s going to be not very far away from where my deputy state director lives,” Stabenow said. “My dear friend who a little over a year ago had a beautiful little boy Carter by using IVF—our whole team went through with her what that meant to do that: the cost, the time, and all of it because she wanted Carter so much and now she has this beautiful little boy.” She added, “The same thing happened with my legislative director in D.C. She and her wife just had a little boy a couple of weeks ago, Raffi, because of the blessing of IVF. This is about joy and happiness and supporting couples that want to have a baby. Donald Trump and JD Vance want to take away this joy from women and families all across Michigan and all across our country.”
Miller, an IVF parent and Christian from Wisconsin, also criticized Vance and Trump for their opposition to reproductive technologies. Miller and his partner are parents to twin boys born through IVF after years of struggling with infertility. “I just think about IVF and what they gave us the dream of our family,” he said. “IVF is a pro-family, scientific way to achieve that dream.”
Miller emphasized that Vance is not just failing to support families in need of IVF but is actively working with his Project 2025 allies to undermine their rights to make healthcare decisions. He said that for families like his, IVF wasn’t optional—it was their only chance to start a family. Many families, including those who have suffered multiple miscarriages and spent years seeking medical help, rely on IVF for hope, he explained. This isn’t just about heterosexual couples, Miller pointed out, but also same-sex couples and cancer survivors who may never have the opportunity to have children without IVF.
He noted that many LGBTQ+ families rely on IVF to build their families and warned that a Trump-Vance administration would strip away that opportunity.
The stakes for LGBTQ+ families, who often rely on IVF to build their families, were front and center during the press call. For same-sex couples and other LGBTQ+ people, IVF and other reproductive technologies provide a critical pathway to parenthood. The Advocate reported in June that access to reproductive technologies like IVF has become increasingly crucial for LGBTQ+ families. A 2024 Family Equality Council survey found that 77 percent of LGBTQ+ millennials are either already parents or considering becoming parents, and a significant number rely on assisted reproductive technologies such as IVF.
For many, like Siegmund Fuchs, a gay attorney and single father, IVF and surrogacy were essential to building a family.
Fuchs told The Advocate that following the Dobbs decision, he moved forward with his remaining embryo to have another child. His son joined Fuchs and his twin daughters when he was born in July to round out their family. Tamisha Williams and Marthia Fuller, a lesbian couple with a baby born in January who also shared their story with The Advocate, expressed similar sentiments about the importance of reproductive technologies in their journey to parenthood.
While Trump recently claimed he would support free IVF, his actions and alliances tell a different story. Stabenow challenged Trump’s sincerity, asking, “Was he on the phone last night calling our colleagues to vote yes? If he wasn’t on the phone last night urging people to vote yes, then I’ll take him seriously.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Republicans defeated the bill, when GOP senators voted down moving forward with it.
“Despite Donald Trump’s claims that he wants IVF to be covered, Senate Republicans just blocked my Right to IVF Act for the second time—legislation that would have done exactly that,” Duckworth wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
