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Power:Why Are American Women Finally Hitting a Breaking Point?
Businessweek
+ Equality

IVF Patients Are Trapped in Limbo and Bracing for the Next Post-Roe Fight

Fertility treatments are already a grueling path to building a family. With embryos gaining new legal protections under Dobbs, they could become a criminal one.

In vitro fertilization, illustrated: A microneedle injects sperm into an egg cell.

In vitro fertilization, illustrated: A microneedle injects sperm into an egg cell.

Photo illustration: 731; Illustration: Victor Habbick Visions/Science Source

Sitting in an exam room preparing for another round of in vitro fertilization wasn’t where Elizabeth planned to be in June 2022, days after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and ended the legal right to abortion in America. The next year would be a crucial one for making partner at her law firm, and she already had a 16-month-old daughter at home. Not to mention that, after two years of infertility, followed by the difficult process of IVF and then new parenthood, she’d been looking forward to a relaxing summer: family beach trips, a vacation with her girlfriends, watching her daughter’s budding personality take shape.

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