North Dakota Democratic lawmaker proposes bills to protect IVF, birth control

North Dakota Democratic lawmaker proposes bills to protect IVF, birth control
https://www.yahoo.com/news/north-dakota-democratic-lawmaker-proposes-222536213.html?fr=yhssrp_catchall


By: Jeff Beach - October 28, 2024 5:25 pm

FARGO — A Fargo Democrat says she will be giving Republican lawmakers the opportunity to vote on bills protecting in vitro fertilization and birth control in North Dakota.

“For far-right politicians who insist that they won’t ever come after IVF or contraception, this upcoming legislative session will give them the chance to prove it by supporting these two common-sense bills,” state Rep. Karla Rose Hanson said Monday at a press conference in Fargo.

One bill specifies protecting contraception, the other, in vitro fertilization and other fertility treatments. The bills include provisions protecting health care providers that provide birth control and fertility treatments.

Hanson said she fears that there will be legislation in the 2025 session targeting IVF as an extension of North Dakota’s strict anti-abortion law passed in 2023.

“I am hearing widespread concern that far-right legislators in North Dakota will take the next step and limit other types of reproductive health care, from birth control to infertility care,” Hanson said. “Some anti-abortion groups have called for IVF to be banned because they believe that life begins at the moment of fertilization, and that discarding embryos that aren’t implanted should be a crime.” .............

Link to tweet

Rep. Karla Rose Hanson, D-Fargo, right, speaks Oct. 28, 2024, about bills she plans to introduce on reproductive rights during a news conference in Fargo. (Jeff Beach/North Dakota Monitor)