VIDEO: Where Dobbs affects fertility care

NEW ORLEANS — In this video exclusive, Jessie Hill, JD, talks about areas where the Dobbs decision intersects with fertility care — personhood and selective reduction.

Hill is the Judge Ben C. Green Professor of Law at Case Western Reserve School of Law.

Personhood laws, which state that fetuses or fertilized eggs are to be considered actual people with full human rights, have been mostly “symbolic” and have not directly affected fertility care, Hill said. In contrast, abortion prohibitions have affected the ability to reduce the number of implanted fetuses and have changed fertility care practices in some states.

Hill also notes that abortion conversations have the potential to increase stigma and disparities around pregnancy.

“Dobbs could have the effect of further aggravating the divide between patients who need abortion care and patients who need fertility care as legislators and hospitals are seeking ways to create exceptions for fertility care to allow that care to go forward in states where abortion remains banned,” Hill said.