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A Message From Our Doctors

  • Category: Education
  • Posted On:
  • Written By: Atlanta Center for Reproductive Medicine
A Message From Our Doctors

In Response to the SCOTUS Decision on Roe v. Wade

Dear ACRM patients and community,

Today is a sad and frightening day for women’s healthcare. With the overturning of Roe, the government can strictly govern reproductive rights by limiting privacy and personal autonomy in accessing reproductive healthcare.

While most people associate Roe with abortion and the end of a pregnancy, the next iteration of this devastating legislation is the potential to assign personhood to an embryo. This could limit access to comprehensive fertility care and keep patients from building their families.

While we can adjust the way in which we conduct IVF, it would make the process more arduous for patients, in terms of cost and number of treatment cycles. We might not be able to screen for fatal diseases, nor allow patients who cannot carry a pregnancy themselves to have biological children. There could also be consequences for patients with existing frozen embryos.

Currently, access to IVF and fertility care is not limited by legislation — it is regulated by physicians who have trained extensively to specifically provide care in Obstetrics, Gynecology, Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility.

To be clear, we don’t know the effect that the overturning of Roe will have on IVF and fertility care at this time — IVF did not exist when Roe became law.

We stand with the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) — two organizations that are dedicated to protecting patients’ reproductive rights. We will be working with these organizations to ensure that our patients have access to the resources and information they need to make informed decisions about their health.

At ACRM, we believe in patient autonomy, privacy, and access to comprehensive reproductive care.

We promise to keep you informed of developments and potential implications for your care as they develop.

And we promise to continue to fight for safe reproductive healthcare for all of our patients.

Sincerely,

Dr. Robin H. Fogle & Dr. Kathryn C. Calhoun