Senate GOP Blocks IVF Bill Democrats Sell as Election Issue

Senate Republicans again blocked consideration Tuesday of legislation to guarantee and expand access to fertility treatments, a vote Democrats hope to use in the November election to paint the GOP as restricting reproductive freedom.

Democrats joined by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) voted 51-44 to advance the bill (S. 4445), falling short of the 60-vote threshold needed for most legislation in the Senate.

The package of four measures would create a legal right for patients to access reproductive technology and for health-care providers to use it, would expand coverage for fertility treatment under group-sponsored health ...