Democratic Senators Push To Protect IVF After Dobbs Decision
News outlets report on efforts by Sens. Tammy Duckworth and Patty Murray, plus Democratic Rep. Susan Wild, to push legislation protecting access to reproductive technology. Separately, Texas has released a long-awaited maternal mortality report, which shows most of the deaths in 2019 were preventable.
USA Today:
Common Process By Which People Get Pregnant Is In Legal Jeopardy. Some Democrats Want To Legally Protect IVF
Democratic senators are trying to legally protect the right to use in vitro fertilization after the fall of Roe v. Wade not only ended the constitutional right to abortion but also threw into question the fate of IVF. Sens. Tammy Duckworth and Patty Murray, along with Rep. Susan Wild, are introducing the new legislation, called the Right to Build Families Act of 2022. (Hughes and Fernando, 12/15)
CBS News:
Senators Move To Protect IVF Treatments
The new legislation, according to its authors, would prohibit limitations for individuals to access reproductive technologies, protect healthcare providers who administer them, instruct the Justice Department to take action against states in violation and create a "private right of action" for patients and health care providers in states where reproductive technologies are limited. (Huey-Burns, 12/15)
Texas has released a long-awaited report on maternal mortality —
Dallas Morning News:
Most Texas Pregnancy-Related Deaths Preventable, Disproportionately Affected Black Women
Most pregnancy-related deaths in 2019 were preventable and disproportionately affected Black Texans, according to a long-awaited state report released on Thursday. (Morris, 12/15)
The Texas Tribune:
Texas Maternal Mortality Report Shows Continued Disparities
At least 118 women dead and nearly 200 children left without a mother. This was just a portion of the death toll from pregnancy and childbirth in Texas in 2019, according to a long-awaited state report published Thursday. (Klibanoff, 12/15)
In other reproductive health news —
The 19th:
How Movies And TV Shows Have Portrayed Abortion After Dobbs
For the past five years, researcher Steph Herold has studied portrayals of abortion in television and film as part of the Abortion Onscreen initiative. The latest study by Herold, a research analyst at Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) at the University of California-San Francisco’s Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health spans this year. It found 60 abortion plotlines or mentions from 52 distinct television shows, well outnumbering the 47 abortion plotlines in 42 shows seen in 2021. (Gerson, 12/15)
Bay Area News Group:
Harry And Meghan's Claim About Miscarriage Pushes Common Misperception
UK’s National Health Services (NHS) said it’s “a common misperception” that a mother’s emotional state, including anxiety or depression, is tied to an increased risk of miscarriage, which is generally described as the death of a fetus before the 20th week of pregnancy. This misperception is in the same category as fears that a woman can harm her fetus by exercising, lifting something heavy, having sex, eating spicy food, standing or sitting long hours at work or experiencing a shock or fright, according to the NHS. (Ross, 12/15)
North Carolina Health News:
No Guidelines For Drug Testing Pregnant Patients
In 2003, Congress enacted the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act. The new law was intended to strengthen programs that prevent child abuse and neglect, including improved training for child welfare workers and better connections between social service departments and community mental health agencies. Included in its 33 pages is the mandate that each state create a process to identify infants exposed to drugs in-utero and intervene in some way. But, nearly 20 years later, that hasn’t happened. (Donnelly-DeRoven, 12/16)
