South Raleigh News

Attorney General Josh Stein urged Congress to pass the Access to Family Building Act and guarantee women’s right to access assisted reproductive health care, including in-vitro fertilization (IVF) nationwide. Following a recent Alabama Supreme Court decision that jeopardized essential reproductive health services, Attorney General Stein and a coalition of 21 attorneys general are arguing for stronger federal protections for assisted reproductive health care.

"IVF, like every other reproductive health care decision, is deeply personal and should be made by women, their families, and their doctor," said Attorney General Josh Stein. "I’m urging Congress to protect women from states’ irresponsible, chaotic decisions that put families at risk."

The recent Alabama Supreme Court decision, which determined that the destruction of embryos created through IVF is subject to the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act, put the practice of IVF in jeopardy in Alabama. Clinics across the state suspended their services immediately following this decision, devastating patients who were in the midst of IVF treatment. This decision threatens the right of families to make their own reproductive health care decisions nationwide.

IVF is a personal and expensive experience that can cost on average more than $20,000 a cycle, and that number can increase depending on a patient’s medical protocols, or if a patient undergoes multiple cycles. Currently, only 21 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws related to insurance coverage for IVF, but the terms vary from state to state. Insurance policies can also preclude patient access through varying definitions of infertility or requirements that not all patients meet.

The Access to Family Building Act would make assisted reproductive health care more accessible to families by guaranteeing patients the right to services like IVF without prohibition or unreasonable limitation or interference and by encouraging health insurance providers to cover these services.

Joining Attorney General Stein in sending this letter to Congress are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.