Democrats in the Senate will hold a vote on Wednesday on legislation that will protect the right to access to in vitro fertilization services following a ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court that determined frozen embryos were, in fact, children. In 2022, Republicans blocked a measure that would have protected the practice, and now the GOP is scrambling to save themselves from a messaging disaster during this year’s campaign. 

“I’ve been called a lot of names in my life,” Senator Duckworth said at a press conference on Tuesday. “I have to say that ‘Mommy’ is probably without a doubt my favorite name. It’s the one my 5-year-old uses when she runs into the house.”

Ms. Duckworth and her husband had both of their daughters through the IVF process. In 2022, in between that year’s midterm elections and the Republicans taking control of the House, Ms. Duckworth tried to pass through unanimous consent a bill that would have guaranteed the right to access IVF and other assistive reproductive measures. 

That bill was blocked on the floor by a Republican, Senator Hyde-Smith. 

Now, with Republicans rushing to defend IVF, Ms. Duckworth is hoping that her bill can pass the Senate with little opposition. “I expect them to — if they live up to the words that they’re saying — to not block it, but we’ll see tomorrow when the rubber hits the road whether they actually show up and show support for IVF or they block it,” Ms. Duckworth says of her Republican colleagues. 

“I would love a roll call vote,” she says. “Let’s get them on the record.”

The Alabama court detailed its “theologically based view” that “life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God.” As a result, multiple hospitals in the state — including the hospital at the University of Alabama — halted IVF treatments for fear of legal repercussions. 

After it became clear how much of a political liability the issue could be for the GOP, Republicans scrambled to clarify that they did support IVF. The National Republican Senatorial Committee sent a memo to all of its candidates demanding that they release statements in support of the practice. 

“A recent ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court is fodder for Democrats hoping to manipulate the abortion issue for electoral pain,” the committee wrote to the campaigns. “There are zero Republican Senate candidates who support efforts to restrict access to fertility treatments.”

The memo said that candidates should not only express their support for IVF but to “campaign on increasing access” to the procedure for families. 

Most Republican senators are expected to vote for Ms. Duckworth’s legislation on Wednesday. From Senator Collins to Senator Romney to Senator Tuberville, there is broad support within the Senate Republican conference. “I would have several fewer grandkids if we didn’t have IVF,” Mr. Romney told reporters on Monday. 

The problem for the GOP remains that a sizable number of Republicans in Congress will vote against the bill. Senator Johnson told reporters on Monday that IVF and reproductive issues are a matter for state legislatures and courts to handle, not the federal government. 

The House, if it takes up the legislation, would also likely pass the bill. Speaker Johnson has already reversed his position in the wake of the Alabama ruling. Before he was elected to his current position, Mr. Johnson and more than 100 other Republican House members had signed on to the Life at Conception Act, which would have established a federal “personhood” standard for embryos. While it would not explicitly make IVF illegal, hospitals’ ability to administer treatments would be complicated because embryos would be considered children, and therefore discarding embryos could be considered an act of homicide. The fear of mishandling embryos is what led Alabama hospitals to stop treatments. 

The political fallout has been immediate for Republicans. One survey commissioned by the NRSC found that a stunning 86 percent of Americans support the right to use IVF in order to conceive children.