Politics of reproductive rights personal for Lori Trahan

LOWELL — Last week, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that parents and providers could be legally punished for trying to have a baby by using in vitro fertilization, a type of assisted reproductive technology.

According to Planned Parenthood, IVF works by using a combination of medicines and surgical procedures to help sperm fertilize an egg, and helps the fertilized egg implant in a woman’s uterus toward the goal of a pregnancy.

It’s a fertility treatment U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan went through with her husband to conceive their two daughters, and she’s grateful she had access to the popular procedure. Massachusetts makes IVF accessible and health insurance plans are required to cover the treatment.

“I wake up every day so grateful that IVF gave us two beautiful daughters,” Trahan said by phone from her offices in Washington, D.C. on Thursday. “I want to make sure that other women struggling with their fertility challenges have the same chance that I did.”

It’s a chance that the Republican Party wants to restrict, building on the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Roe v. Wade was the landmark 1973 decision that constitutionally protected a woman’s right to a legal abortion. Since the court’s decision, which opened the door for states to ban abortion outright, 14 states have made the procedure illegal.

Trahan said the Republican Party’s efforts to restrict women’s reproductive IVF rights are dangerous and unpopular.

“There’s no bigger fight for life in having a family than IVF treatment,” she said. “Nothing could be more unpopular with the American people than restricting the access to fertility care.”

What it boils down to, she said, is a war on reproductive health care.

“We know what’s next, which is contraception,” Trahan said. “This is part of the playbook. I don’t think that we are mincing words about how far we think that they will go.”

In the wake of the Alabama ruling, 125 Republicans in the House of Representatives co-sponsored the Life at Conception Act, which would ban abortions nationwide as well as a national ban on IVF treatment.

On Thursday, U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth tried to bring legislation to the floor to protect access to IVF, and it was blocked by Senate Republicans.

Duckworth is serving as the junior senator from Illinois, and was elected in 2017. The Iraq War combat veteran lost both her legs and some mobility in her right arm when her Black Hawk helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade fired by Iraqi insurgents

Like Trahan, she conceived her two children through IVF.

“Becoming a mom wasn’t easy for me,” Trahan said. “That process was harder than I ever could have imagined. It got to the point where it felt like it might not happen.”

Today, Grace is 13, Caroline is 9, and their mom is determined to protect their reproductive rights, as well as the reproductive rights of present and future generations.

On Friday, Walgreens and CVS released statements that the companies intend to begin dispensing mifepristone, one of two drugs used in medication abortion and miscarriage care, in several states including Massachusetts.

Dominique Lee, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, applauded the move, saying in a statement, “Protecting and expanding access to medication abortion is essential to ensuring reproductive freedom, so we are proud that Massachusetts continues to lead by example.”

Mifepristone has been used safely and effectively for more than two decades, and Gov. Maura Healey said that “Massachusetts will always protect access to reproductive care, including medication abortion.”

Advocacy and public allies are important in the fight restoring a woman’s right to the freedom to make the decisions over her own health care and her own body, including access to mifepristone and fertility care and IVF, said Trahan.

“Democrats are the ones who are writing legislation, making sure that we’re defeating ballot initiatives, making sure that we’re pushing back on these national bans,” she said. “Republicans are systematically, proactively trying to take those rights away.”

For Trahan, the fight is political and personal.

“I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit here and allow them to roll back the clock on my daughters who I fought so hard to have,” she said.