The likelihood is you probably know someone who has gone through fertility treatments, like IVF, which stands for in vitro fertilization, a costly procedure which accounted for 2.5% of newborns in 2022, and about 8 million babies since the procedure began in 1978.
IVF has been a hot button issue this election cycle, first when it was effectively banned in Alabama in February after the state's supreme court ruled that frozen embryos are children. The governor signed a law the next month that protects IVF treatments. Twelve other states introduced bills that could give personhood rights to embyros and fetuses, though none have passed.
Both campaigns for president have brought up fertility treatments, with the Democratic nominee for Vice President, Tim Walz, who said he and his wife needed reproductive assistance in their journey to conceive. And just last week, former President Donald Trump promised that if elected, the government or insurance companies will be mandated to pay for all costs associated with IVF.
But if you're not going through the treatments yourself, you may not know what it entails.
On Tuesday's "Sound of Ideas," we're going to talk more about IVF and the politics surrounding it by hearing from a local fertility expert.
Guests:
-Priya Maseelall, M.D., Reproductive Endocrinologist and Infertility Specialist & Medical Director, Reproductive Gynecology and Infertility
