Smith said her physician had since moved out of Idaho, too, fearing that she would be criminally prosecuted for providing care to women. Idaho bans abortions in nearly all cases and providing the procedure is a felony punishable by imprisonment.
“So, okay, pro-life, well what about my life, too?” Smith said, holding back tears. “Because I also had severe preeclampsia with my [first-born] daughter, like with severity. I was admitted to the hospital. I had her at 33 weeks, so I was also at risk for that.”
Adeleye, who is based in Illinois and focuses on IVF and using research to close the gap on fertility-related disparities, said Alabama’s IVF ruling “is really frustrating, it’s disappointing, but it’s not surprising.”
“I’m fortunate to be at a point now where I’m trying to help people build families, but it doesn’t always lead to, you know, a bundle of joy nine months later. There’s so many ups and downs,” Adeleye told NBC News in the Capitol on Thursday. “And so what really bothered me was even after Dobbs, I had patients in my office crying, asking me about what’s going to happen to my embryos? And I just said I’m not a lawyer, I don’t know. I can’t predict the future.”
“And that is just something I never expected to have to say or think about,” she added. “Or, to address fear in my patients. … Sadness, loss, excitement, all those things are expected. Fear? I wasn’t expecting that.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., at a press conference on Thursday flanked by the trio of senators and their guests, along with advocates from Planned Parenthood, promised to “preserve the right to IVF” despite a failed effort by Duckworth to codify that right last week; it was blocked by Republicans on the Senate floor.
He highlighted the story of Kate Farley, a New York woman who is currently pregnant via IVF and will join him as one of his guests at the presidential address. “How dare these right-wing ideologues say that she shouldn’t be able to have children or millions of other mothers who have beautiful children through the miracle of IVF, through the advances of medical science?” Schumer said.
Adeleye stressed that she hopes Biden will champion “education and science and medicine” during his address.
“Quite frankly, this whole Alabama nonsense wouldn’t have happened if people on the ground understood medical science in a way that was clear and accurate,” she said.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
