Bill co-sponsored by Hinson threatens IVF

Our U.S. representative, Ashley Hinson, is co-sponsor of the Life At Conception Act, a bill declaring that a constitutional right to life begins at the moment a human egg is fertilized. The problems created by this extreme position are currently playing out in Alabama. There, a similar declaration by the state supreme court has halted in vitro fertilization (IVF), to the distress of the many couples relying on IVF to become parents. Hinson’s bill makes no effort to accommodate such struggling couples, even though IVF is clearly threatened by its extreme language.

Hinson’s bill reflects narrow ideology rather than facts. Fact: Almost half of all fertilized eggs do not implant in the uterine wall and are flushed out of the body and destroyed. How much sense does it make to attach constitutional protections to each egg, many of which are in the process of being naturally discarded?

And what of ectopic pregnancies, in which a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus (e.g., in the fallopian tubes)? The fertilized egg will not survive, and its growth in the meantime threatens the mother’s life. Assigning constitutional rights to a fertilized egg whose very existence endangers its mother makes no sense whatsoever, and introduces legal complications that can only make a terrible health situation even worse.

Beyond IVF, Hinson’s bill jeopardizes some common birth control methods and a woman’s freedom to choose. Hinson’s extreme approach is ill-informed and damaging. We can do better.

Steve St. Clair

Decorah