Fox News Host Confronts Republican Senator on Voting Against IVF
Fox News host Shannon Bream confronted Senator Katie Britt, an Alabama Republican , on Sunday about her voting against a bill that would federally protect access to in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Republicans once again struck down the bill, sponsored by Senator Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, last week as the issue of reproductive rights stays a top issue for voters heading into November's election.
Democrats have pushed to establish protections for reproductive health procedures following the Supreme Court 's overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, which ended the constitutional right to an abortion. Last week's bill would have protected access to IVF and required that insurance companies cover the procedure and other fertility treatments.
Senators voted 51-44, meaning that the measure failed to meet the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a filibuster. Two Republicans , Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Senator Susan Collins of Maine, joined Democrats in supporting the bill.
In an interview on Fox News Sunday, Bream asked Britt about her voting against this measure, "So you voted against a measure though that was offered up by Democrats on IVF in the Senate there and they continue to point to that to say that Republicans aren't supportive of protecting IVF, why did you vote no?"
Britt, a supporter of former President Donald Trump , took aim at Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer as she claimed the bill was a "show vote," adding that he should have put other funding bills on the floor instead.
"This is politics at its worst. If you think about what Chuck Schumer is doing instead of putting funding bills on the floor that are so critically important to actually doing our job for the American people...instead of putting any of those bills on the floor he chose to put an IVF bill on the floor for a show vote. That bill extended into human cloning. That bill did not protect religious freedom, something we have agreed is a bipartisan issue," Britt responded.
The senator added: "There has been probably no more vocal supporter outside of [former] President Trump than myself when it comes to making sure we have nationwide access to IVF. It was simply a show vote, it was never intended to pass."
