The Inherent Intersection between IVF, Assisted Reproductive Treatments (ART) & Abortion Care
Written by Anna Hindman, AMSA Reproductive Health Project Fellow & 4th year medical student at Touro University California College of Osteopathic Medicine, and Aliye Runyan, MD, AMSA Reproductive Health Strategist
Hearing the news last week that the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are “unborn children,” while an expected progression, continues to add to the devastating reality in the politics of controlling reproductive health, continues to put patients’ lives at risk and negate evidence-based medicine. This idea of “fetal personhood,” aside from being completely absurd, is being used by anti-abortion groups who conveniently ignore the full consequence of what it means if an embryo or fetus has the same rights as a living person. It is clearly a mask for lawmakers to control female identifying bodies, especially people of color, and continue to promote a white heteropatriarchal society. If we are to achieve full reproductive justice, we NEED to fight against this control. Reproductive Justice is defined as
“the right to have children; the right to not have children and;
the right to nurture the children we have in a safe and healthy environment.”
This inherently encompasses the whole spectrum of reproductive health, from abortion care, pregnancy, sexual health and fertility.
It is important to highlight that reproductive health care, especially fertility treatments, have always been limited to those with significant resources and have disproportionately excluded BIPOC, same sex couples, and un-partnered individuals. Just this October, we got some exciting news that The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) expanded the definition of infertility to include “those who might need donor gametes or donor embryos in order to achieve a successful pregnancy either as an individual or with a partner.” This was a glimmer of hope that fertility treatments might become more accessible through insurance coverage. Yet, after the news this last week, we continue to take 1 step forward and 1000+ steps back.
I (Anna), like many people, am here because of assisted reproductive technology (ART), like in vitro fertilization (IVF). My parents would not have been able to have children without this care, which will not be possible for future generations if these extremist views are allowed to shift policies. For health care providers in particular, it is known that female physicians are delaying childbearing and experiencing higher than expected rates of infertility. A recent study showed “three-fourths of women physicians delayed childbearing and more than one-third experienced infertility.” While there are many concerning factors as to why this is the case, oocyte or embryo cryopreservation can at least help many of us increase the chance of family building in the future and give us security and autonomy over our future. What is happening now will make this illegal.
Furthermore, from my (Aliye) perspective as an ob-gyn and abortion provider, we know that there is little difference between a patient seeking abortion care and those participating in ART. Often, these are the exact same patients, as ART unfortunately is not 100% successful, and the procedure (or medication) to end those pregnancies is an abortion.
There is an insidious and dangerous viewpoint in the general public,
and even more dangerous, among some physicians,
that patients who need ART to conceive somehow have the “moral high ground”
over patients needing or desiring abortion care.
Anecdotally, there have been social media posts by ob-gyns since the Alabama ruling with comments implying that this ruling is so much worse now that patients “who actually want children” (paraphrased) are affected. This is the false distinction that is completely medically inaccurate as there are many, many patients seeking abortion care who actually want children. We must combat this misinformation with conversations that include the acknowledgement that abortion care is part of the normal spectrum of a person’s reproductive life. The upcoming Teach-Ins for Reproductive Justice sponsored by the AMSA Reproductive Health Project is an upcoming opportunity we hope you will join us for and share with your classmates – Register Here by March 3 at 11:59pmPT.
As we continue to witness and experience these egregious violations of human rights to reproductive freedom, we need continued support and advocacy, calling out of these policies, by the large medical institutions and organizations. These policies go against evidence based medicine and threaten the lives of providers and patients. This is unacceptable and dangerous and these institutions can not be complicit any more.
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