While I certainly still believe that my body and what happens to it should ultimately be my choice and mine alone, I now know that the U.S. government has a vested interest in interfering with this choice and has been doing so for centuries. Even at its founding, this nation’s forefathers debated ideas that would for centuries inform how families were created, who was able to create them, and whether those families would be classified as human or property.
Today, the battle rages on in state legislatures as lawmakers fight to restrict or systematically destroy access to abortions and gender-affirming health care. Evaluated with an eye on reproductive policy trends over these last few years, the successful nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, coupled with the continued push for fetal “personhood” bills—or legislation that defines life as beginning when a sperm fertilizes an egg—it’s not a stretch to say that infertility care is up next on the chopping block.
