Sen. Ossoff continues push to protect access to IVF
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is continuing his push to protect access to In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) in Georgia.
Yesterday in a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Ossoff lifted up concerns of Georgia families worried about access to IVF after the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the Alabama Supreme Court’s subsequent extreme ruling last month.
“I’ve heard and my office has heard in the last few weeks from a huge number of Georgians who are scared that the direction my state is on, the direction the country is on, could deny Georgia families access to IVF,” Sen. Ossoff said in the hearing. “Families are afraid that they may not have access to IVF, and they may not therefore have the opportunity to achieve the blessing and responsibilities of parenthood.”
During the hearing, Sen. Ossoff spoke with Ms. Jamie Heard, an Alabama resident whose IVF treatments were halted last month following the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling, who encouraged other women and families to speak up on the need to protect IVF access.
“I’ve never advocated for anything before. Me being here today is completely new territory for me. But when everything kind of took place in Alabama, I felt attacked. I felt like my family was being attacked. My future family was being attacked,” Heard testified. “I understand that infertility is such a personal trauma and it’s hard to talk about, it’s hard to speak about, but I empower them to get active. Let your voice be heard. Let your story be shared, because the more that we speak up, the more that we share our story, the more that we can bring awareness and understanding to what the IVF process is, the better you know, hopefully, that we can see change through that.”
Earlier this year, Sen. Ossoff and colleagues introduced the Access to Family Building Act, which would establish a legal right to IVF; however, Senate Republicans blocked passage of the bill, despite broad and overwhelming support for protecting access to IVF.
During the hearing, Sen. Ossoff also raised Georgia’s alarming maternal mortality rate and lack of access to OB-GYN care across Georgia, as health experts have warned Georgia’s 6-week abortion ban risks worsening the state’s OB-GYN shortage and making it harder for women to access health care.
“Georgia has passed one of the most extreme abortion bans in the country at 6 weeks, before many women even know they’re pregnant. One of the things that I’m hearing is that the fear of criminal prosecution of doctors deters OB-GYN residents from pursuing training in states with those kinds of extreme abortion bans, and I think as the clinicians here probably know, from their experience, my understanding is that doctors are much more likely to stay in practice where they’ve trained,” Sen. Ossoff said.
Click here to watch Sen. Ossoff’s line of questioning.
Please find a transcript of Sen. Ossoff’s line of questioning below:
SEN. OSSOFF: “Dr. Dennard, thank you for joining us and sharing your story with us. Want to talk about the availability of OB care, particularly in parts of the country with extraordinarily high rates of maternal mortality and shortages of qualified obstetric clinicians.
“In the state of Georgia, just for context, half of our counties have no OB-GYN at all. We have one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country. And I hear consistently in rural communities — and in fact, just a few days ago on a defense installation in Georgia speaking with servicemembers and military spouses — just how dire this lack of access to obstetric care is.
“Of course, it’s not just OB-GYNs. It’s obstetric nurses, it’s midwives, with sometimes deadly consequences for women who are unable to access health care, perinatal health care. Georgia has passed one of the most extreme of abortion bans in the country at six weeks before many women even know they’re pregnant.
“One of the things that I’m hearing is that the fear of criminal prosecution of doctors deters OB-GYN residents from pursuing training in states with those kinds of extreme abortion bans, and I think as the clinicians here probably know from their experience, my understanding is that doctors are much more likely to stay in practice where they’ve trained.
“Question for you is based upon your experience as a doctor, what’s the impact on local communities when there are no OB-GYN, or the nearest qualified provider is a 90-minute drive away?”
DR. DENNARD: “Thank you for highlighting this really important issue. Personally, I practice in a large metropolitan area in Texas, but what I can say is that many medical journals will show it’s no surprise that when there’s lack of access to care, there are very poor outcomes. And patients have to travel, they have to travel now to get the care that they need, and that distance is becoming further and further for them. So, what happens is the areas that have lack of access to care, patients travel and overwhelm other areas where there is more access to care. And there are bad outcomes. So, it’s quite devastating to the women in our country, and it’s negatively affecting my specialty significantly.”
SEN. OSSOFF: “Thank you, Dr. Dennard. Ms. Heard, I’ve heard, and my office has heard, in the last few weeks from a huge number of Georgians who are scared that the direction my state is on, the direction the country is on, could deny Georgia families access to IVF.
“We saw what happened in Alabama. We see more and more extreme policies — a six-week ban for example, far out of the mainstream, opposed by most Georgians, deterring OB-GYNs from practicing in the State, we see more and more of this being pushed across the country since the Dobbs decision.
“And so, families are afraid that they may not have access to IVF, they may not therefore, have the opportunity to achieve the blessing and responsibilities of parenthood. What is your message for families in Georgia and across the country who feel fear right now that their path to conception and parenthood may be closed to them by political extremists?”
MS. HEARD: “Thank you, Senator, for asking that question. I think I mentioned in my testimony that I’ve never advocated for anything before. Me being here today is completely new territory for me. But when everything kind of took place in Alabama, I felt attacked. I felt like my family was being attacked. My future family was being attacked.
“And I know so many other women personally that are going through the process that, you know, unfortunately, haven’t had success as of yet. But I knew that I needed to step up and let my voice be heard, not just for me in my experience, but also for all those others that don’t have the ability to let their voice be heard, to fight for our rights, and to continue to have access to those treatments that we need.
“So, my message to them is, you know, I understand that infertility is such a personal trauma and it’s hard to talk about, it’s hard to speak about, but I empower them to get active. Let your voice be heard. Let your story be shared. Because the more that we speak up, the more that we share our story, the more that we can bring awareness and understanding to what the IVF process is, the better you know, hopefully, that we can see change through that.”
SEN. OSSOFF: “Thank you for your courage. Thank you all.”
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