Arkansas doctors have joined a nationwide network of health care professionals working to protect in vitro fertilization access in the wake of last month’s Alabama Supreme Court ruling that paused IVF services in the state.
Healthcare Workers for Reproductive Freedom formally launched its Save IVF campaign last week with the release of a letter signed by more than 2,100 healthcare workers urging policymakers to safeguard IVF.
“This ruling is an attempt to set a legal precedent of ‘fetal personhood’. Establishing this precedent will not only lead to the end of abortion access entirely, but it will make in vitro fertilization (IVF) an impossibility and could even deem some contraceptive options illegal,” the letter states.
The Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are children and if destroyed, a wrongful death lawsuit could be filed under an 1872 law. IVF providers in the state temporarily halted operations in response to the decision.
Little Rock gynecologist Dr. Chad Taylor said he signed the letter because he believes “there should be no legislative interference in the patient-physician relationship.”
Taylor, a board-certified OBGYN, is also part of an advisory group of health care workers that supports a ballot initiative that would guarantee a limited right to abortion in the Arkansas Constitution.
“We want lawmakers to stay out of doctor’s offices; there’s no place for them in this kind of decision-making,” he said. “These decisions belong to patients and they belong to experts in health care.”
Earlier this month, the Alabama Legislature passed a bill to restart IVF services, but one clinic said it falls short of providing sufficient protection for health care providers.
Taylor said he welcomes legislation like this to protect gray areas, but ultimately wants a commitment to let doctors and patients “govern ourselves when it comes to these important medical decisions.”
“These are real people trying to grow their family in a very difficult way, and they share their fears and their concerns with their doctors — it’s the doctors and the health care workers that are in those offices holding the tissues with the patients while they cry and we’re not able to provide our best because we’re limited, and nature throws people challenges all the time,” he said.
Healthcare Workers for Reproductive Freedom co-founder Dr. Marcela Azevedo said lawmakers do not understand the medicine behind the policies they’re passing and how these can have unintended consequences that can cause patients a lot of harm.
Azevedo has fought for reproductive rights in recent years as the founder and president of Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights, a group that supported a ballot initiative to enshrine abortion in Ohio’s constitution.
Last November, 57% of voters approved the measure, and through that work, Azevedo said they connected with health care workers around the country facing similar challenges.
Healthcare Workers for Reproductive Freedom naturally grew out of that effort, and Azevedo said the Alabama IVF ruling spurred the group to speak out more formally.
Read more on ArkansasAdvocate.com
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