Trahan gets personal on reproductive rights

ALABAMA IMPACT — Rep. Lori Trahan describes the Alabama Supreme Court decision jeopardizing access to in vitro fertilization in the state as a “gut punch.”

“The idea that a family who has gone through every possible option before finally turning to IVF, having that option ripped away from them, is just a pain that I can’t imagine,” Trahan told Playbook. Going through IVF treatments is already “harder than you can ever imagine,” she said, and “more grueling than women will ever admit.”

The Westford Democrat knows that first hand: IVF made it possible for her to give birth to both her daughters, Grace and Caroline. The process is punishing, physically and emotionally, she said — the daily injections lead to surgery and then to waiting. Oftentimes, it ends in heartbreak.

Now, just accessing IVF is getting more difficult. The Alabama ruling that frozen embryos are “children” has rocked the reproductive rights realm and has already led several sites in the state to suspend their IVF services.

It’s also setting the stage for a battle at the ballot box — one Trahan, who was recently elected co-chair of House Democrats’ messaging arm, thinks her party can capitalize on.

“There are going to be huge ramifications in not just this election, but in every election until women have the full portfolio of rights that they deserve,” she said. “The Republican Party is controlled by people who are not content with just overturning Roe. They want to ban abortion. They want to ban mifepristone and IVF in every state in the country, including here in Massachusetts. And we’re not going to let that happen.”

Playbook spoke with Trahan about the ruling’s ripple effect in Massachusetts and the other big health care story rocking the state: Steward Health Care and its “disastrous” for-profit model. Here are more excerpts from our conversation:

What would you tell the justices who wrote the Alabama decision, as someone who had children through IVF?

Shame on you. This is not going to make the lives of people from Alabama better. … What I want to tell women in Alabama: come to Massachusetts. We are happy to care for you here and to give you the opportunity to start a family and we will never give up fighting for you.

What does the Alabama ruling mean for Massachusetts?

I have no doubt that if IVF continues to fall victim to Republican abortion bans, Massachusetts will continue to be a haven for women in need of care. But don’t think that we’re not watching this closely, because if more states follow suit — if this gets a hearing at the Supreme Court — that would impact access to IVF everywhere. That’s why this is a call to arms for all women across our country to make sure the stakes are understood for this election.

Do you think Steward has a future in Massachusetts? Three of their nine hospitals in the state are in your district — what happens to them?

Something would have to dramatically change in order for me to have faith or confidence in their long-term viability. ... I introduced a piece of legislation that would create a special designation for essential hospitals, because there is no Plan B when a community hospital in Lawrence or Haverhill or Lowell shuts down, or has to reduce their services. That’s something that a federal designation would help with — it would just change the funding structure to reflect how important these hospitals are to communities.