IVF Ban Results

According to a bulletin put out by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine on May 3, 2022, "there is a clear and present danger to ... curtailing access to the family building treatments upon which our infertility patients rely to build their families." Per the CDC, 2.1% of babies in the United States are conceived via Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART), and the main ART is in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Many are concerned that if Roe v. Wade is overturned, which appears likely according to the leak of the Supreme Court draft opinion, that IVF will be impacted, particularly in those states that will ban abortion. This is based on the view that conception occurs on fertilization, which is what happens in IVF, when eggs, collected from a woman's ovaries, are fertilized by sperm in the lab. Viable embryos are then inserted into the uterus, where some will implant, leading to pregnancy. Because many of the embryos produced via IVF - up to half - are chromosomally defective, those are typically discarded rather than being transferred to the uterus.

Find out more:

• Overturning Roe could have major repercussions for IVF treatments, fertility experts warn (at CNN.com)
• Overturning Roe v. Wade could impact future legality of IVF... (at wfaa.com)
• The Ramifications of Roe v. Wade's Fall... (at wired.com)