Wisconsin residents are concerned about protecting in vitro fertilization
‘I want my daughters to have the same rights that I’ve had to choose when and how to start a family,’ one Wisconsin mom said.
On the second night of the Democratic National Convention, Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois spoke about her yearslong struggle with infertility. It was only through the “miracle of IVF,” or in vitro fertilization, Duckworth said, that she was able to give birth to her two daughters.
On the same night, former first lady Michelle Obama shared that she and her husband, former President Barack Obama, had also used IVF to help them conceive.
“Cutting our health care, taking away our freedom to control our bodies — the freedom to become a mother through IVF, like I did — those things are not going to improve the health outcomes of our wives, mothers, and daughters,” Obama said.
Although most Republicans have said they support IVF, Senate Republicans blocked legislation in June that would have protected a person’s right to access it.
The Republican Party’s 2024 platform says that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution “guarantees that no person can be denied Life or Liberty without Due Process, and that the States are, therefore, free to pass Laws protecting those Rights.”
In a February interview with the Michigan Independent, Mary Ziegler, a professor at the University of California Davis School of Law, made clear the significance of the amendment to Republicans’ arguments concerning reproductive rights. Ziegler said: “The anti-abortion movement argued that the word ‘person’ in the 14th Amendment applied the moment an egg was fertilized. And then they further argued that that meant liberal laws on things like abortion and IVF were in fact unconstitutional.”
Monona, Wisconsin, second-grade teacher and mom of two toddlers Stephanie Biese Patton said she doesn’t trust Republican lawmakers. She says they are only saying they support IVF to get elected, but once they’re in office, “who knows what they’re going to do?”
“I don’t trust any of it. I don’t trust our Supreme Court to protect our rights either. They haven’t shown me with things like Roe v. Wade and other birth control issues, they haven’t shown me that I can trust them,” Biese Patton added.
Biese Patton began her IVF journey in 2020. She said the process cost her and her husband well over $15,000. The average cost for assisted reproductive services is between $15,000 to $20,000; it can be as high as $30,000, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Since IVF is not covered by health insurance, Biese Patton and her husband borrowed from their parents and took out an IVF loan, which they’ve been able to pay back since the birth of their two daughters, ages 1 1/2 and 3 1/2.
Biese Patton said it makes her both sad and angry to think about her right to use IVF being taken away by lawmakers.
“Who are you to tell me how to start my family? Who are you to tell me whether or not I can have a family? Because without IVF, I couldn’t,” Biese Patton said, adding that it’s one of the things that she’ll be thinking about when she goes to the poll in November.
“I want my daughters to have the same rights that I’ve had to choose when and how to start a family,” Biese Patton said.
Michelle Velasquez, the director of advocacy and services for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, said that the foundation of all of this is bodily autonomy. The right to decide whether and when to have children and having access to the full spectrum of health care and education and information needed in order to realize that decision about whether or not to become a parent. And for some people, that journey to parenthood is through IVF.”
