Roe v Wade and the Threat to Fertility Care

Abstract

On June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health overturned Roe v Wade , and authority to regulate abortion was returned to individual states. It is critically important for all physicians to understand the implications that this ruling may have on reproductive autonomy with regard to abortion care and in vitro fertilization (IVF). Although the intended consequence of abortion bans is to prohibit legal abortion, one unintended consequence may be undue restriction of in vitro fertilization. We summarize the potential of abortion bans, particularly those with personhood clauses, to affect IVF practice. We detail the implications of these bans on embryo cryopreservation, preimplantation genetic testing, single embryo transfer, and access to infertility treatments. In the United States in 2019, nearly 84,000 children were born as a result of IVF (2.2% of all births), and nearly 250,000 IVF cycles were performed. These bans will have a profound effect beyond abortion, and these implications are not widely understood in the medical community.