For the second straight week, Senate Democrats will put GOP lawmakers on the spot over reproductive rights.

The Senate is set to vote Thursday on a package aimed at protecting in vitro fertilization.

Democratic lawmakers say legislation is necessary after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled in February frozen embryos can be considered children under state law and that someone could be held liable for destroying them, prompting fertility clinics to pause IVF treatments. Alabama later passed a law granting clinics and health care workers criminal and civil immunity. 

Senate Democrats argue that, unless Congress acts, court rulings in other states that threaten IVF are possible, fueling uncertainty among Americans struggling to start or grow their families.

“Many families fear that this basic service cannot be taken for granted,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said of IVF in a floor speech Tuesday. “That’s not theoretical. Here in Congress, some on the hard-right are already trying to restrict IVF access. The Senate can ease people’s worries and protect their freedoms through legislation.”

The bill Democrats will put on the floor packages together four proposals. 

One, sponsored by Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, would prohibit restricting access to assisted reproductive technology such as IVF. It would allow the U.S. attorney general, private citizens and health care providers to sue any state or local governments that interfere with someone seeking fertility treatments. 

Duckworth unsuccessfully sought unanimous consent — a procedure that can expedite Senate business — for the proposal in February.

She also wants to require the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program to cover IVF and other assisted reproductive technology.

Another proposal, from Washington Sen. Patty Murray, would expand fertility treatments covered by service members’ and veterans’ health care plans to include the option to freeze their eggs or sperm before deployment to combat zones or when unable to conceive without assistance.

And a plan by Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey would require employer-sponsored and public insurance plans to cover fertility treatments and standardize a baseline level of fertility treatment coverage under private plans. 

“In the nearly two years since the Supreme Court threw out Roe v. Wade, our nation has seen the horrific consequences of Republicans’ anti-science, anti-woman crusade that has put IVF at risk for millions of Americans who rely on it to start or grow their family,” Duckworth, who used IVF to have her two children, said in a statement last week. “Struggling with infertility is painful enough—every American deserves the right to access the treatment and tools they need to build the family of their dreams without the fear of being prosecuted for murder or manslaughter.”

Democrats blame Republicans for opening the door to questions about IVF by successfully pushing to overturn Roe v. Wade in the Supreme Court two years ago. The vote will come hours after the Supreme Court unanimously rejected a bid to restrict access to abortion medication mifepristone.

Senate Republicans largely say they, too, support IVF. They sought to counter the bill on Wednesday with legislation of their own — a measure from GOP Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Katie Britt of Alabama would pull Medicaid funding from states that ban the treatment.

“Our goal is to make sure that any family’s path to bringing a child into the world isn’t compromised by preventable legal confusion,” Cruz and Britt wrote in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal.

They sought to pass the bill unanimously on Wednesday night, but it was blocked by Democrats who argue that it doesn’t go far enough. In a video posted on social media on Tuesday, Duckworth argued the Cruz-Britt bill would not protect IVF treatments that require an egg donor and opens an escape hatch for states that don’t want to participate in Medicaid.

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, has been critical of the legislation as well, saying, in part, it takes a stand against “prohibiting” IVF but opens itself up to much debate about how severely the treatment can be restricted.

Republicans say there is no real threat to IVF and dismiss the Democrats’ bill as an election-year political ploy. In a statement, 49 Republican senators, led by Cruz and Britt, accused their Democratic counterparts of embracing "a Summer of Scare Tactics — a partisan campaign of false fearmongering intended to mislead and confuse the American people."

"In vitro fertilization is legal and available in every state across our nation,” the GOP lawmakers said. “We strongly support continued nationwide access to IVF, which has allowed millions of aspiring parents to start and grow their families

“Republicans support IVF, and the Democrats know that,” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said on the Senate floor Tuesday.

“We will not accept this gross purity test from the radical left, and the American people, who are much smarter than Democrats hope they are, see right through this,” added Scott, who said his daughter is trying to conceive a child using IVF.

Schumer insisted it will not be a “show vote,” comparing it to when Republicans joined Democrats in 2022 to protect gay marriage.

“It’s a show-us-who-you-are vote,” Schumer said.

Senate Republicans last week blocked Democratic legislation that would have protected women’s access to contraception, arguing that bill, too, was a political stunt. Scott, who has introduced a nonbinding resolution supporting IVF, predicted GOP lawmakers will vote against the IVF bill as well.

Since Roe was reversed, polls and election results have shown that efforts to restrict abortion access and other reproductive care are unpopular among voters. 

But Republican lawmakers are also feeling pressure from the religious right. For instance, the Southern Baptist Convention voted Wednesday on a resolution condemning the use of in vitro fertilization. Meanwhile, The Heritage Foundation is calling for Congress to regulate IVF.