Congressional News Briefing on Protecting Access to IVF in Connecticut - Speech

Thank you for including me today. Myself and my colleagues, along with Senator Blumenthal, are all here today to support Senator Duckworth’s bill in the Senate of the United States. This bill is aimed at giving all people who live in the United States who want access to life changing in vitro fertilization care. 

I’m here because for the past 30 years I have been working in the state of Connecticut helping people from all walks of life who want to have a family gain access to in vitro fertilization, known as IVF. IVF is a life changing combination of science, technology and medicine that gives people diagnosed with infertility who want a child the chance to have a family; it gives them the opportunity to achieve a pregnancy and have a child. 

Infertility is defined as a disease just like diabetes and cancer and affects many different people. IVF is essential for so many, including those born without a uterus, cancer survivors, people with blocked fallopian tubes, men with little or no sperm and members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

It is important for people to appreciate and understand that nearly 15% or 1 out 6 people suffer from infertility.  Those suffering from infertility want equal access to share the bond and love of parent and child, but need this science and medicine. There are many talented people who are involved with patients pursuing IVF. Those of us who work in Reproductive Medicine give patients access to IVF which for them is essential and life changing in helping them have a family.   

IVF is a Nobel prize winning technology that has resulted in 9 million people in this world who would not have existed without this combination of science and medicine. To begin, IVF requires a woman to bear the burden of hundreds of injections to stimulate her egg production. Next there is a procedure to retrieve her eggs. Next,  highly trained laboratory professionals (known as embryologists) combine the egg with sperm together. They place the embryo in an incubator. The incubator is opened the following day where embryologists assess whether an egg has become fertilized. If it has, it is considered an extrauterine embryo. This is an embryo that has a relatively low chance of even making a reproductively competent cluster of cells. These clusters of cells are either transferred into a prepared uterus, or cryopreserved for future attempts at pregnancy.

According to the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, it is important to understand that more than 60% of embryo transfers in the United State are frozen embryo transfers. In 2020, the majority of pregnancies in the United States were the result of frozen extrauterine embryo transfers into hopeful parents. Sadly, even in 2024, less than 50% of these embryo transfers are successful. In fact, less than 20% of extrauterine embryos in the laboratory are even available for embryo transfer or cryopreservation because they have stopped growing in the laboratory. This is human biology! This is why we need to have extra eggs and have extrauterine embryos in cryopreservation.

Not only is supporting family building my life‘s work, it has given me my own family. In fact, not every attempt of pregnancy for my own family of an extra uterine embryo into a uterus resulted in a successful pregnancy. This is personal for me, and for the millions of Americans that want access to IVF care.

I was shocked last week when the ruling from Alabama utilizing a law from the 19th century in a time that we fly in planes and use cell phones was used to dramatically affect the access to essential family building care for hundreds of thousands of people in the state of Alabama. My heart breaks for the people of Alabama, and I am gravely concerned about the chilling effect and broader implications of this ruling on access to IVF across the country.

We stand here today with you, Resolve, Resolve New England, and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, in solidarity to show people we believe in access for anyone who needs to use this family building technology to bring life into the world. The ruling from Alabama is anti-Family and we stand here Pro-family.

The journey of parenthood via IVF is a long one and can mean considerable emotional, physical, and financial hardship. For hopeful Alabaman parents who no longer have access to this critical method of family-building, this is a devastating time. Patients across the country are rightfully concerned about the national impact. The national implications at risk are scary.

Building a family is a fundamental right of all people, no matter where they live. We cannot allow this dangerous precedent of judicial overreach related to IVF and women’s reproductive rights go unchecked.

I’m so glad to have had the honor and privilege to practice this life-changing art in Connecticut for the past 25 years.