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Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Democrats have been actively seeking to elevate abortion as a central voting issue to drive their base to the polls. One strategy has been to merge abortion with the debate over in vitro fertilization (IVF), effectively adopting it as part of their broader 2024 election strategy by pushing claims that Republicans are attempting to ban IVF.
Tothiseffort,SenateDemocrats,spearheadedbySen.TammyDuckworth(D-Ill.),pushedforasecondvoteontheso-called“RighttoIVFAct”thisweek.“IfDonaldTrumpandRepublicanswanttoprotectpeople’srighttoaccessIVF,theycanvoteyesonit,”DuckworthtoldCBSNewsbeforethevote.“He’sshownthatitonlytakesonesentencefromhim,andtheRepublicanPartywillfallinlinebehindhim.”
Thebillfailedtoadvance,andthemediapromptlypushedtheexpectednarrative.“SenateRepublicansblockedlegislationthatwouldprotectaccesstoIVFonTuesday,inavotethatDemocratsheldtodrawattentiontotheissueafterformerPresidentDonaldTrump’srecentstatementssupportingthefertilitytreatments,̶
