Potential Risks With Reproductive Rights After Roe v. Wade

(AmericanProsperity.com) – Healthcare advocates and groups have spoken about the potential risks that would be associated with the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the potentially larger threats to reproductive healthcare.

Long-standing warnings have become a reality as in vitro fertilization care has been suspended at three of Alamaba’s largest hospitals where it was once provided. This was made worse after the Supreme Court said that providers would be prosecuted if they continued with this method.

This could continue into other states and could limit the practice that doctors and physicians can do in terms of reproduction or fertility; lawmakers have signaled that other reproductive freedoms could be at risk.

Fetal personhood laws are the biggest concern and could make the biggest difference in terms of what laws are present in fertility. This law considers fetuses, embryos, and fertilized eggs as “people,” which could undermine the ability of IVF parents to make decisions regarding their care.

Karla Torres, senior counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said, “In the IVF context, embryo personhood would be extremely harmful to patients and providers, who could be criminalized, for example, for discarding an embryo or for transferring an embryo that then does not implant.”

The Supreme Court decision saying embryos are children raised a lot of concern over what IVF specialists can do as they could be held responsible for wrongful deaths if anything happened to the embryos. After backlash regarding the law, Alabama lawmakers passed legislation protecting IVF care in the state.

With this said, there are still eleven states that have broad fetal personhood laws which could impact a variety of treatments. Northwestern University physician and fertility specialist, Dr. Eve Feinberg, said, “The legal question is: at what point should a citizen be protected? And where I take issue with the Alabama ruling, is that they utilize their religious beliefs that life begins at fertilization.”