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Join RESOLVE’s leadership team for an in-depth look at what it takes to pass pro-family legislation, protect IVF, and what we’re up against.
HOSTS
President & CEO, Barb Collura
Chief Engagement Officer, Betsy Campbell
Chief External Affairs Officer, Rebecca Flick
ABOUT RESOLVE
RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association is the largest non-profit patient advocacy organization in the country focusing on increasing access to all family building options through insurance coverage and policy changes as well as protecting fertility care like IVF from legislation.
Hi, and welcome to Infertility Discourse, a podcast from RESOLVE, the National Infertility Association. I'm one of your hosts, Rebecca Flick.
Barb Collura:Oh, hi. I'm Barb Collura.
Rebecca Flick:Oh, hello. It's nice to see you. And we are I'm here. We are here for another episode, and, we're gonna go classic rock with this one, Don't Stop Thinking about Tomorrow.
Barb Collura:Oh, god. That's kinda my era, but okay. I love it.
Rebecca Flick:And, this is all about our predictions for what we're gonna be working on in 2025 when it comes to your right to access family building options that you deserve and how we increase access and how we protect access. So, here we are. We are about 40 something days left in 2024. The election dust has settled, and we are are starting to align with our partners, at the national level and our state coalitions, and we are are looking ahead. We also have a new director of government affairs starting, in the next week or so, and we can't wait to introduce them to our audience next year, on this podcast.
Rebecca Flick:So, looking forward to that. But Barb, how, how are you feeling about 2025? Where do you think we're gonna be come January second when we're all back in the office?
Barb Collura:Well, I I think there we need to kind of think about 2025 into what we know and what we don't know. Because there are unknowns, a lot of unknowns, and we have to be prepared for those unknowns and that is, I think, what's, you know, what's I don't wanna say troubling me but that's what the challenge is. The challenge is is the unknowns and there's a lot of them. So let's start with what we do know.
Barb Collura:We do know that we are going to be back in some states pushing for insurance mandates. Those states are Minnesota, Oregon, Washington. We're We're gonna be in Michigan. We're gonna be in Pennsylvania. We might be in a couple more states.
Barb Collura:But we know we're gonna be in those states for sure. And whether we see it all the way through the legislative session, because you never know what can happen. But we're gonna at least start in all of those states, in a very very robust way. In fact, we already have an advocacy day scheduled for Minnesota. It's gonna be on February 4th in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Barb Collura:So if you are listening and you live in the State of Minnesota, you can attend. It's free. You just need to be, a resident of Minnesota and then we organize it and plan it and meet schedule all your meetings. We might have another one or two in other states, but I know that one for sure. So, Rebecca, those are the states that I know we're gonna be very active with our coalition partners.
Barb Collura:Those are the American Society For Reproductive Medicine and the Alliance For Fertility Preservation. And then we work with our pharma partners, EMD Serono and Ferring. So those, those are some known ones. We also know we're gonna have a federal advocacy day. It's gonna be on May 20th.
Barb Collura:Right?
Rebecca Flick:Yep.
Barb Collura:2025. I think registration, what, usually opens around the beginning of January?
Rebecca Flick:Yeah. Maybe even before the end of the year.
Barb Collura:So check with ASRM or RESOLVE. Get yourself registered for advocacy day. It's virtual. You don't need to come to Washington DC. We, make all your appointments.
Barb Collura:It's also free. So you just need to register and then you need to participate. I can tell you right now, and I hope that we do another podcast or two about advocacy day. But there's some states that we always have really low turnout for. And so it'd be nice if we kinda start putting those out there now.
Barb Collura:States like Mississippi and Oklahoma and Wyoming and Alaska and New Mexico and Maine. So, you know, let's, let's call our friends and relatives in those states and get them registered. So so guess what? That's what we know. Those are things we know.
Barb Collura:What do we not know? We do not know what we're gonna be advocating for on advocacy day. I don't know right now. It's a it you just said it's November of 2024.
Barb Collura:I do not know what we're gonna be advocating for because we need to see how the new Congress gets in. We need to see who the committee chairs are. We need bipartisan legislation. Let's be honest.
Rebecca Flick:Yep.
Barb Collura:We can't go in with legislation that's only Democrats. So how do we ensure that happens so that we are making the most of your time. And it may be that what we do on advocacy day is we talk about our principles, our values, our criteria for what good coverage looks like, and we set the stage.
Barb Collura:Yeah. There's a lot of people to educate.
Barb Collura:Right? So have some new members of Congress. I don't know how big this is. That's a good that's a good question. But for sure, we're gonna have people who are on there's gonna be people changing committees.
Barb Collura:Obviously, in the senate, it'll all be new people chairing committees, because it'll be Republicans. So we have a lot to figure out and like you said, you know, educate. But I think from my perspective, Rebecca, the key thing is going to be ensuring that that unknown are things that do not harm our community. And if they are looking like they're expanding coverage, what does that coverage actually look like? And is it something that that we would support?
Barb Collura:And this is this is my biggest fear. My biggest fear is we're gonna have well meaning I'll say well meaning well meaning legislators who want to expand access to IVF. Maybe they're even getting pressure from the White House. And there are other voices that are, quite honestly, very, very loud.
Rebecca Flick:Yep.
Barb Collura:And they're also behind the scenes sometimes. And, they don't like IVF. They don't like the creation of embryos. They wanna control a lot of what goes on in the IVF process. And guess what?
Barb Collura:They're gonna have the they're gonna be in the ears of those legislators. And so you talk you call it the sausage making. What comes out in the end may be actually really bad for our community.
Rebecca Flick:We have to protect that. I I think what I saw a lot from a communications, perspective since that's what my major role is at resolve is I kept seeing this kind of happen in real time this year where we were seeing a lot of different candidates or current members of Congress all rallying around the availability of IVF after everything that happened in Alabama in February. But when you dug a little deeper, when you read legislation that was being introduced in a in a, fury, when you read the media interviews, you have to to really understand how government can nip, like, kind of nip away at good medical care. And I started, you know, in meetings, like, I would say, okay.
Rebecca Flick:I feel like it's an IVF, but we support IVF, and then there's a silent "but". We think it could be regulated, but we wanna think about you know, in the media, they might say health and safety regulations.
Barb Collura:Or I saw a a legislator a federal legislator. He's in the house of representatives, but he's represents a district in Alabama, coincidentally. And just a few weeks before the election, he said, almost exactly what you just said. And I'm gonna find that article because he said, yeah. We absolutely wanna support the expansion of IVF, but we think again but we think there are guardrails.
Barb Collura:His words were guardrails needed on the practice of IVF. We've heard the term, we'd like to see ethical IVF practiced.
Rebecca Flick:Which implies that it's unethical right now.
Barb Collura:Oh, my gosh. It's unbelievable. And, you know, this isn't a term that we started. This isn't even a thing. This isn't somebody just made it up.
Barb Collura:And now it's like they're saying that. And so I love how you just phrase that. We have to be we have to be very vigilant about the what comes after the word but. Because, you know, what comes after the comma? What comes after the Because that's the bad stuff, and that's the stuff that we are not gonna tolerate.
Rebecca Flick:I would love for us to to define the we because it's not me and you and our 11 other team members at RESOLVE. It is our advocacy partners. It's you listening to this podcast. It's the next person that you share this podcast with. It's the people that you see in the waiting room and in your support groups, and the we is the thousands of new people that joined RESOLVE's advocacy network this year.
Rebecca Flick:We now have, you know, over 30,000 people in our grassroots advocacy network and they represent all 50 states, but we have to keep growing that. So the we is not the two people on this podcast. It's it's our community, and we have to be vigilant, and we have to stand up for our values. And I think you're gonna hear RESOLVE talk a lot about what our our values are for our the patient community because we wanna make sure we do no harm, as Barb likes to say.
Barb Collura:Let's paint a picture for people to give so let's say it says, we're gonna cover IVF. You're gonna get two cycle I'm making this up all.
Rebecca Flick:Mhmm.
Barb Collura:I I have never seen this, so I'm making this up. We're gonna cover two cycles of IVF in your lifetime, but you can cannot do any genetic testing.
Barb Collura:And if you have a frozen embryo, you can only use it, save it, and use it for your own attempt at a pregnancy. In other words, you you can't do anything else with it. You may say, that doesn't sound so bad. So now we're saying a legislator is saying, hey. We're gonna control your embryos.
Barb Collura:We're gonna tell you what you can and can't do with them, and we're gonna somehow track you, and we're gonna somehow track those embryos to make sure that you do that. What happens if you don't? What's the what's the penalty?
Rebecca Flick:For you and your and your provider.
Barb Collura:And then okay. What if I'm somebody who has had multiple miscarriages or I'm somebody with a genetic disease and now you're telling me I I can't do any kind of genetic screening on my embryos. Who? Why? Who made that decision?
Barb Collura:So, you know, this chipping away at the practice of medicine is not something that that we are gonna stand for. We we value the doctor patient relationship. We value people's autonomy over their bodies, and we value people's decision making. And so we are not going to agree to a trade off.
Rebecca Flick:Right.
Barb Collura:So I'm you know, we're not we're not gonna say you can't give us a carrot and then a stick. The carrot being the two cycles and the stick being, but you must do it this way. That is not how medicine works. And we are absolutely I'm just gonna say resolve will not set a precedent like that. RESOLVE will not harm people's access like that, and RESOLVE will stand up for everybody's rights.
Rebecca Flick:Just gonna let that hang there. Like, I was very into everything and very now motivated for next year. And, you know, we've we've had a lot of fights. We fought a lot of battles over the past two decades, especially when it comes to personhood. And and we have have always said since, Roe v. Wade was overturned and the Dobbs decision came down that that we were very concerned about the state level.
Rebecca Flick:I think this new congressional fight is a little overwhelming at first to understand and to know that we have to also prepare for that as well, possibly. And I think you said it well, there's there's there's a conflict within the rhetoric right now. So we just want people to be aware that we are going to be very diligent in what we talk about and what we applaud and what we what we put out there in terms of either content on social or an email because we have to stand up for what we support and for you, and for the provider community and making sure that everyone has the health care that they deserve, as Barb said. So let's get into the state level for, a few minutes before, we let everyone go.
Rebecca Flick:But what are we seeing in terms of what we call anti family? You know, legislative sessions don't start until January, but things can still be happening now. And I feel like you you got an email right before we started hitting record. That was a little concerning.
Barb Collura:A lot of states, you know, you can pre file bills, and so we get a we get a initial indication of what might be happening. And as we just said, you know, we've gotta look at every word and everything in in a particular bill. So you're gonna see things where it might be talking about regulating IVF or ethical IVF or, you know, things like that. So it might not be that obvious. So this this particular bill that is prefiled in Texas, it talks about banning what's called fetal reduction.
Barb Collura:And turns out that's already banned in the state of Texas. So that is doesn't need to be done. But it actually says in this particular new bill that and and this is the part that is in quotes. You may you may perform in vitro fertilization procedures only on an individual who intends to carry to term each embryo implanted during the procedure. So, you know, you probably read that and go, well, wouldn't somebody who's doing IVF intend to carry?
Barb Collura:And, yes, probably. But at the same time, why do we need this? They already ban it. Why do we need this? Why do we need to start saying that only certain people can do IVF?
Barb Collura:And then, Rebecca, are they gonna, like I guess they're gonna ask this in some kind of informed consent process, and then you have to sign something. And then, I don't know, they're gonna have to track it.
Rebecca Flick:Right. So the implementation is very unclear.
Barb Collura:This is the slippery slope of legislation that we don't wanna go down.
Rebecca Flick:So to be clear, this is you said pre filed?
Barb Collura:It's an in the inter it's actually been you know? Yeah. I mean, the legislature hasn't started yet, so legislators can inter already introduce legislation. And and, so yeah.
Rebecca Flick:So here we go. So, you know, if you're listening to this and you've been, listening for our 1st dozen or so episodes, you know, we we always talk about what this movement needs, and, we need voices, especially in the states. And and, again, you know, having done this for as long as Barb and I have, we aren't an organization that can spend a ton of money finding new people. Our our outreach and our growing our grassroots movement has been very organic, and we definitely see a difference in where we are able to connect with people based on how many clinics are in that state, how many support groups we have in that state, and, the general climate for fertility care in that state.
Rebecca Flick:And when those things aren't great, we don't have as many people to contact. So I know I'm looking at 2025 is how do we build our movement in states where we've been, as an organization, underrepresented for a long time. And, you know, we're gonna be definitely looking for some volunteer leadership in key states because as much as I would love to visit or, Barb, have visit all these states or our volunteer manager visit all these states, we really need people on the ground because you are gonna be able to talk to the people that you know, they're gonna be able to talk to the people that they know, and this is how we build, a force.
Barb Collura:100%. And, you know, I would love to see thousands of people register for our federal advocacy day. I would love to see, you know, hundreds of people in in every state be connected to our issues, and we can get there. So that's that's what we need.
Barb Collura:So 2025, a lot of unknowns, Rebecca. I think, maybe you could find I know you what was the song?
Rebecca Flick:Don't Stop Thinking about Tomorrow.
Barb Collura:Don't Stop Thinking about Tomorrow, but we need to find some, like, we don't know song.
Rebecca Flick:Oh, you're putting me on the spot.
Barb Collura:Oh, gosh. Okay. Well, name that tune. You're so good at all this, but I think that's really my message to all of you out there.
Barb Collura:There's a lot of unknowns. That doesn't mean we need to take a break.
Rebecca Flick:Yep. Yep. It just means don't stop thinking about tomorrow, and what can you do tomorrow to help spread the word, to help keep yourself educated. And and I also wanna just acknowledge because I've said this a lot internally, I have for a lot of different reasons, you know, I'm not absorbing news or social media content as much as I, usually do. So this is this is where I reserve the right to get smarter, as we like to say. It's definitely helped me manage just some other things that life brings at you.
Rebecca Flick:But I also know as a communications strategist that that would be really hard if some people stop listening. So I want people to take care of themselves. I want you to feel good about the the content that we provide you because we wanna make sure that you are informed with real information and know that RESOLVE has your back. And however you feel the best way to keep in touch with us, we would love that. So if you like this podcast, please rate us on whatever podcast system you're you're listening on and also share this because, like we said, we need a lot more voices heading into 2025.
Barb Collura:Thank you, Rebecca. And look. I just wanna echo. There's so many ways to get involved. You can also be, one of our charitable donors.
Barb Collura:And we love people who donate on a monthly basis, and it doesn't even need to be a lot. I always talk about our our coffee drinks. But, you know, if there's, you know, a Christmas gift that maybe, you know, you're you're debating whether to get or not. Or maybe you're somebody who tells your friends, hey. Let's not do gifts this year.
Barb Collura:Can you donate in honor of my favorite charity? I was talking to somebody who's going to a a milestone birthday, for a really good friend neck, next week. And the friend said, don't anybody give me a gift? Donate to your favorite charity. So it wasn't even donate to my favorite charities.
Barb Collura:So, you know, those are those are ways that really help our organization grow and meet the needs, that we've been talking about. So thank you.
Rebecca Flick:Alright. Well, when you're listening to this, I hope you're resting, getting some rest, and recharging for 20 25, and we'll see you there. Bye bye.