Nikki Sapiro Vinckier: IVF is on the ballot
By Nikki Sapiro Vinckier
We know that infertility is incredibly common. One in six people struggle with infertility and, unfortunately, most don’t know that it will be them. It is expected that next year alone, around 6.5 million people will experience infertility in the United States.
I am an OB/GYN Physician Assistant, who has been working in infertility for the last decade. Infertility is an incredibly difficult, disheartening, and wildly expensive challenge, and it is widely agreed upon that infertility treatments should not be at risk. As a healthcare practitioner in the field, I am consistently surprised by the general lack of understanding and awareness about this. I am frequently disappointed and frankly, astonished when I hear that people, specifically women, are voting against their own best interests. Future infertility care and management is on the ballot this year as the Republican Party’s 2024 policy platform supports states establishing fetal personhood through the 14th Amendment.
How did we get here?
In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) has become intertwined with the discussion and politicization of abortion. This has centered around the incredibly dangerous rhetoric that far-right conservatives have been pushing for years centered around fetal personhood. This language considers fertilization/the point of conception as the beginning of life. Using this language and rhetoric, IVF emerged as a political issue after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled in February that frozen embryos were considered children.
If fetal personhood language is enacted, there is a likelihood that fertility clinics may stop performing IVF since the risk of destroying an embryo, now considered a “child” is too high. Or perhaps, we would see infertility doctors will only be able to fertilize a single egg at a time, significantly increasing the cost and barriers to IVF.
What about frozen embryo(s)?
There are over a million and a half embryos currently frozen in the United States and the language pushed to ban abortion threatens those embryos. For example, if you decided your family was complete without using all those embryo(s), you may be forced to transfer any remaining embryos, donate them, or keep them frozen forever. You would lose the opportunity to make that personal choice with your partner should you wish to discard them. You would also not be able to test embryos for abnormalities given the concern that you could damage the embryo, and even if you were able to test, you could not discard an embryo if it is abnormal. Additionally, by definition of fetal personhood, moving an embryo from one state to another could be considered human trafficking.
Where do we go from here?
It is a sad reality that many don’t want to talk about. Unfortunately, most don’t know they will struggle with infertility in advance. There is no crystal fertility ball. If one in six people struggle with infertility, we must hold in our hearts that perhaps our family expansion, as well as that of others, is on the line. We must not be complacent. We must not vote against our own best interests, the interests of our families, and the ability to start or grow a family.
Reproductive rights and infertility should have nothing to do with the government. However, the Republican Party feels differently, threatening future fertility treatments across the United States. The far right is relying on us not understanding the dangers and risks of their agenda.
This is a call to action to speak with friends and family who may not understand the ramifications of how this election impacts not just abortion, but fertility too.
Rise up. Speak out. And vote.
Nikki Sapiro Vinckier is an OBGYN PA-C and a reproductive rights advocate and activist based in Michigan.
