Source: WNCN-TV
Following the controversial Alabama Supreme Court decision, North Carolina Democrats and medical professionals are raising concerns over access to in vitro fertilization treatments.
Last week, state Democrats, patients, and doctors called for state and federal protections for in vitro fertilization.
“If a decision like the one in Alabama was to happen here in North Carolina, IVF clinics would not be able to freeze embryos and modern fertility care would be unavailable to the people of North Carolina,” said Dr. Meaghan Bowling, IVF medical director at Carolina Conceptions, during the Friday press conference.
According to WRAL, Carolina Conceptions has about 9,000 embryos stored at its fertility clinic. Couples and individuals seeking crucial fertility care commonly freeze extra embryos because it usually takes one to three embryo transfers to get a baby.
“The Alabama ruling is very important and has led to a lot of concern and honestly fear among the fertility doctors throughout the nation,” Dr. Bowling stated. “It will have a massive impact on patients’ ability to have success with IVF.”
Joined by Attorney General Josh Stein and Congresswoman Deborah Ross, Democratic leaders are calling on state legislators to write protections for IVF into state law.
“After this recent Alabama court ruling, women and families are understandably anxious about what this means for their ability to begin and complete IVF,” stated Attorney General Josh Stein. “The chaos is creating real stress among real people here in North Carolina. The General Assembly can alleviate all of that anxiety when they come back into session this April by passing a law that makes it crystal clear that IVF is protected here in North Carolina, and I urge them to do so.”
Currently, IVF is legal in North Carolina, however, Republicans have attempted to advance the idea.
NC Newsline reports that last year, state Appeals Court Judge Hunter Murphy decided to terminate a woman’s parental rights for conduct during her pregnancy because “life begins at conception.” Weeks later, the controversial opinion was withdrawn, according to NC Newsline.
On a statewide level, state Republican legislators started to roll back reproductive freedom through an anti-abortion measure that banned most abortions after 12 weeks and made it harder for individuals to obtain medication abortions.
“From abortion bans to attacks on contraception and now threats to IVF, women are fed up with politicians trying to dictate their health care choices,” stated Rep. Deborah Ross.
“Not only does this decision endanger reproductive health care, but it can also have serious repercussions for doctors and how they practice medicine and for the advancement of new scientific and medical discoveries, many of which are happening in the Research Triangle right now.”
