On Wednesday, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued a letter calling on senators to reject the Access to Family Building Act (S. 3612), which would establish a federal right to access IVF. The letter acknowledges “the often-painful experience of infertility,” but states that the solution “can never be a medical process that involves the creation of countless preborn children and results in most of them being frozen or discarded and destroyed”.
If passed, the Act would not only open the door to “the buying and selling of human embryos, commercial surrogacy, and more,” but also violate religious freedom: “Faith-based non-profit charities, schools, and church organizations that serve your communities and, out of principle, cannot cover in vitro fertilization in their employees’ health plans could face impossible, potentially existential choices. Faith-based health care facilities and providers of faith could likewise be forced to facilitate procedures that violate their beliefs or to exit the field. Such consequences would hurt not just organizations but, more importantly, those whom they serve.”
The letter also addresses an issue that has created confusion recently by clarifying that the Supreme Court of Alabama’s decision of February 16 did not “ban” IVF, but merely applied existing law to embryos in IVF facilities so that parents could hold them accountable for negligent wrongful death. Both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have voiced support for IVF, criticizing the Court’s decision to recognize the personhood of frozen embryos.
Click here to contact your congressional delegation on the “Access to Family Building Act.”