The Connection Between Fertility Treatments and the Overturning of Roe v. Wade
Last month, Tammy Duckworth, the Democratic senator from Illinois, along with Senator Patty Murray of Washington, introduced legislation called the Right to Build Families Act, which aims to codify the protection of assisted reproductive technologies for patients (so they have a say over their own genetic material) and for doctors who provide fertility services. What Duckworth and Murray have a keen understanding of is that while access to abortion care may be the primary health care service impacted by the overturning of Roe v. Wade earlier this year, it’s certainly not the only one that the Supreme Court decision put at risk. Patients, doctors, and legal experts alike are concerned that abortion bans could actually have more far-reaching effects, namely on fertility treatments. The senators’ bill aims to anticipate those effects. As Duckworth said: “This is part of the abortion debate that most Americans were unaware of until Roe vs. Wade fell.” In honor of the 50th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade ruling this week, Dr. Lucky Sekhon and Dr. Tia Jackson-Bey answered some important questions about fertility in a post Roe v Wade world.
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