INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — How’s everyone doing since Tuesday’s Presidential Debate? If you’re like us, many questions arose following the televised event, especially surrounding IVF and abortion. Regardless of where one stands on these issues, the debate made it clear that both will be key topics during this election. 

What does IVF stand for and what is it?  

In-vitro Fertilization, a form of assisted reproductive technology, is a procedure used to overcome infertility and produce a live birth. In general, a person’s ovaries are stimulated with medications and eggs are retrieved, then frozen for later use or fertilized in a lab to create an embryo, which is then transferred to a person’s uterus. 

Is there federal protection for IVF? 

No, currently there is no federal protection for IVF. This summer a bill was introduced in the senate to provide federal protection but failed.

Many individuals are divided on IVF and abortion, where some believe life and personhood begins at conception and others later in gestation or at birth.  

Are embryos legally considered persons? 

Alabama is the only state granting embryos personhood; this was established in a February 2024 Alabama Supreme Court ruling.

The US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade in 2022, what did that mean? 

Roe v Wade federally protected the right to an abortion; therefore, leaving legal provision up to the states and the provisions differ state to state.  

During the presidential debate, it was stated “they have abortion in the nine month” and “they even have…the baby will be born and we will decide what to do with the baby…”.  

Are procedural abortions legal at nine months of gestation or later? 

The latest a procedural abortion can legally take place varies by state. There are 9 states with no legal limit: Alaska, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon and Vermont, as well as Washington DC. Nineteen states restrict abortions after 24 weeks or viability.

Indiana permits procedural abortions up to 20 weeks or viability to save the mother’s life, prevent a serious health risk or in cases of fatal fetal anomaly. No state in the U.S. allows what former President Trump described as “abortions after birth.”

Even though abortion may be legal in a given area, access may not exist due to availability of facilities and trained personnel. In Indiana, abortions may only take place in a hospital.  

If you are a person of reproductive age, considering pregnancy or not actively preventing pregnancy but uninterested in pregnancy or the caregiver of such a person, I highly recommend that you establish care with an OBGYN or Family Medicine OB Physician.