This News Digest Is Donated Sponsored Content From RESOLVE

When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, one organization renewed its focus on access to care for patients battling infertility.

Since 1974, RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association has provided education, advocacy and emotional support to people nationwide who are trying to build families. The 501c3 is funded by individuals, corporations, fertility clinics, and individual professionals/experts in the field.

A majority of the work RESOLVE does involves ensuring patients have access to emotional support and all family building options, no matter their zip code. This work includes, —support groups, federal and state advocacy, a program to encourage employers to include IVF coverage in benefits packages, public awareness campaigns and patient education, explained Barbara Collura, CEO of RESOLVE.

In FY 2022, RESOLVE helped 1.4 million people gain new or improved family building benefits through its access to care initiatives. According to Collura, the non-profit’s three big initiatives for 2023 include: protecting access to IVF services, opening access to it in California, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington State (four states that don’t have IVF insurance mandates) and increasing emotional support by returning to in-person support groups. RESOLVE offers peer-led support groups in 30 states and Washington, D.C. (42 in-person; 78 virtual; and 31 professionally led).

Protecting access

In response to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, a move that could restrict access to IVF and people’s rights over their embryos, RESOLVE launched a new campaign: Fight for Families. Its goal is to amplify the non-profit’s existing state advocacy work and protect access to care.

“What’s different now is the stakes are so much higher,” Collura said. “We felt we needed a louder voice and brought in PR support.” RESOLVE recently hired New York-based Fenton Communications to work with IVF patients on how to succinctly tell their stories to the media, to change minds and influence public policy.

Increasing access

Sharing stories of people who face barriers to building their family is so important in RESOLVE’s work, especially the Fight For Families campaign and when it comes to increasing access to IVF insurance through state laws,, Collura said. RESOLVE sees even more of an opportunity to increase access to care in California, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington State because after Roe v. Wade was overturned, legislators from those four states announced reproductive rights of women are protected in their regions, yet those states don’t have an insurance mandate for IVF to back it up, Collura explained. She went on to say that this state advocacy work largely happens because of a strong coalition of other non-profits and corporate partners that work together.

She said a robust insurance mandate would include coverage of at least two cycles of IVF, medication, unlimited frozen embryo transfers and fertility preservations (insurance coverage to preserve sperm, egg or embryo of patients experiencing Iatrogenic Infertility; infertility caused by medical interventions like chemotherapy, surgery or other medications someone facing Cancer treatments may undergo).

It’s critically important for people in those states to know what’s going on and speak with legislators,” Collura explained. “RESOLVE can show up and advocate but if constituents, the people that vote these lawmakers into office, don’t show up it doesn’t move our issues forward. “If legislators are hearing from their constituents about how important it is, it changes their mind and gets them to support our issues.”

She said RESOLVE has put coalitions to work made up of doctors, patient advocates, attorneys, grassroots influencers and bill sponsors and hired a team of paid lobbyists to help advance legislation they introduced in those state capitols.

Mental health matters

The third initiative is restarting and reinvigorating in-person support groups across the country that were virtual during the pandemic. “We believe your mental health and ability to take care of yourself enhances and directly correlates to your ability to stay in medical treatment,” Collura said. “Connecting with others, finding a sense of community and taking care of yourself is vitally important to everyone as they go through this journey.”

Introducing federal legislation

With the overturning of Roe v. Wade, access to IVF was not federally protected. RESOLVE is hopeful that the Right to Build Families act that was introduced at the end of last year will be reintroduced this year. It aims to reintroduce to Congress the Right to Build Families Act that was introduced at the end of last year. “It would create a new law at the federal level that says people have a right to access IVF, medical professionals have a right to offer that service and people have a right over their embryos,” Collura said. “We’d love to see it in federal law, then states wouldn’t need to pass their own laws restricting access.”

On April 25, RESOLVE and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) will host a federal advocacy day, an opportunity for people to join RESOLVE and ASRM to advocate on a federal level. Participation is free.

“We provide training and an opportunity to tell you what to say, what the issues are, why these issues are important,” Collure explained. “We help people develop their own story and make it very bite size and succinct so that it will hit on the really important points members of congress need to hear.”

Meetings between participants, senators and state representatives are virtual and last 15 to 20 minutes. Most conversations actually take place with legislators’ staff who relay the messages.

“So many members of congress don’t know about all these issues,” Collura said. “This is our chance to tell them what’s important to us.”

This News Digest Story is donated featured sponsor content, where the Advertiser has editorial control. They do not reflect the views of Inside Reproductive Health.

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