Star Tribune: IVF is unethical. Minnesota is right not to mandate coverage.

Mandating coverage for in vitro fertilization (IVF) may be good for the fertility industry, but it will not be good for Minnesotans.

Jill Burcum’s recent column (“The fight for fertility coverage needs a governor in its corner,” Strib Voices, Sept. 13) suggests that the answer to the infertility struggle is state-mandated coverage for expensive and unethical IVF procedures. And the key to passage, she suggests, is for the future female governor to embrace IVF.

To her point, our state should support pro-family policies and help couples grow their family. Facing infertility is a devastating prospect. It is something that no couple wants to endure. But creating children in a lab is not the answer.

Fortunately, there is a more effective way to address the reality of infertility: investing in and offering coverage for restorative reproductive medicine. Infertility is not a disease. It is a symptom of an underlying health condition, and care should be offered to address the root cause with the best medicine and emerging science.

In vitro fertilization sounds promising because the expected outcome is a healthy baby. But the reality is that nationally, only 37% of the five-figure assisted reproductive technology cycles result in a live birth. Put another way, 63% of all cycles fail.

Furthermore, to create life, many embryos are destroyed or left in limbo. According to one estimate, some 1.5 million human embryos that are created each year are never brought to term. Many end up frozen, others are discarded.

Read the full story at Star Tribune.