The Connection Between Fertility Treatments and the Overturning of Roe v. Wade
In “The Connection Between Fertility Treatments and the Overturning of Roe v. Wade,” Vogue reports on the Right to Build Families Act, recently introduced in Congress, which would protect patients’ and doctors’ ability to access assisted reproductive technologies. The article points out that the overturning of Roe v. Wade affects not only abortion, but also fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization (IVF).
The Center’s Senior Human Rights Counsel Karla Torres was interviewed for the article.
“One way abortion and IVF are linked is through personhood laws, which are vague measures that classify fetuses, embryos, and/or fertilized eggs as people starting at the point of conception,” said Torres, adding that these ambiguous amendments significantly undermine an IVF patient’s ability to make decisions about their care and a doctor’s ability to provide it for them. “Some states even have overlapping laws, like Alabama, which has both a trigger ban and a fetal personhood law that further adds to the lack of clarity surrounding IVF care.”
The overturning of Roe v. Wade also complicates patients’ and doctors’ ability to freeze or discard unused embryos; manage miscarriages or pregnancy complications; selectively reduce multiple pregnancies; test embryos for genetic imbalances; and access medications such as misoprostol, which prevents blood hemorrhaging and can be used to help patients prepare for uterine surgeries. “There is also concern that IVF may become even more expensive as providers figure out how to continue providing care in states that enact abortion bans or personhood laws,” Torres said.
“While IVF remains legal in the US, the threats to providing and accessing it should not be understated,” Torres added. “Fertility doctors and their patients, whether they live in a state that safeguards access to abortion or not, have been experiencing anxiety because of the uncertainty and chaos caused by the patchwork of legal abortion access currently happening across the country and what that may mean for IVF access and care.”
Read the article here:
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