Scoop: House Democrats eye IVF discharge petition
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Rep. Susan Wild and other members of the Democratic Women's Caucus. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images.
House Democrats are considering an effort to force a vote on legislation that would codify the right to fertility services, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: It's part of an effort by Democrats in both chambers of Congress to put Republicans on the spot on reproductive rights as the 2024 election heats up.
- Democrats have repeatedly looked to IVF as an ideal issue on which to hammer vulnerable Republicans.
What we're hearing: Democrats are discussing a discharge petition on Rep. Susan Wild's (D-Pa.) Access to Family Building Act, according to a House Democrat and two other Democratic sources familiar with the matter.
- The bill would provide a statutory right to assisted reproductive technology such as in vitro fertilization and allow the Justice Department to sue states and localities that attempt to restrict IVF services.
- Senate Democrats are planning a vote Thursday on the Senate version of the IVF bill sponsored by Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.).
By the numbers: The discharge petition would require 218 votes to bypass House Republican leadership and force a vote on the House floor.
- That's a hurdle Democrats have repeatedly failed to clear as they struggled to get Republicans to sign onto discharge petitions on gun control, foreign aid, the debt ceiling and more.
- But in addition to 170 House Democrats, Wild's bill is co-sponsored by four Republicans: Reps. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.), Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Anthony D'Esposito (R-N.Y.), all of whom represent districts President Biden won in 2020.
- Those four Republicans and others in swing districts are likely to face pressure to sign onto the petition, according to Democratic sources.
Between the lines: Democrats launched a similar discharge petition last week on legislation to protect access to contraception, but it is unlikely to succeed.
- It had been signed by 199 of the House's 213 Democrats as of Wednesday, but no Republicans.
- Republican leadership has long discouraged their members from signing onto discharge petitions to avoid handing control of the floor to Democrats.
What's next: Wild and Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) and Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.) are holding a press conference on Thursday morning "to address the need for IVF codification," according to an advisory from Wild's office.
- "Rep. Wild, the House lead of the bipartisan bill that would enact federal protections for IVF, and her colleagues will push Speaker Johnson to take up a vote on the legislation, and address possible next steps," it said.
