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Senate Republicans have blocked legislation that would protect access to in vitro fertilization, objecting to a vote on the issue Wednesday even after widespread backlash to a recent ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court that threatens the practice. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, a Mississippi Republican, objected to a request for a vote by Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., who used IVF treatments to have her two children after struggling with years of infertility. Duckworth’s bill would establish a federal right to the treatments as the Alabama ruling has upended fertility care in the state and families who had already started the process face heartbreak and uncertainty. (Jalonick and Groves, 2/28)

The Biden campaign is seizing on Senate Republicans' decision to block a bill enshrining federal protections for in-vitro fertilization (IVF), arguing that former President Trump would have intervened if he truly supported IVF. (Basu, 2/29)

Proposed "personhood" laws getting a closer look after Alabama's IVF ruling could vastly complicate reproductive care in some states that require insurance coverage of fertility treatments and drugs, by setting up potentially clashing mandates on what to do with frozen embryos. (Reed, 2/29)

The Alabama Supreme Court ruling effectively cutting off access to in-vitro fertilization in the state created a firestorm for Republicans. Many of their friends in the anti-abortion movement were celebrating. The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade marked a decades-long triumph for the right. But it’s also exposed tensions in the alliance between Republican politicians, who face voter backlash, and anti-abortion activists who seek even further restrictions. (Messerly, 2/29)

Two weeks before her 23rd birthday, Roshni Kamta was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. That was the first shock. The second came a few days later, when she found out that the chemotherapy that would save her life might prevent her from having children. Her oncologist told her that freezing her eggs would give her the best chance at a future pregnancy. But she would need to do it immediately, before starting her cancer treatment. (Burns, 2/28)