Striking costs of infertility point to importance of IVF access and affordability

The debate over in vitro fertilization (IVF) has become a hot-button policy and political issue, despite the medical procedure to help people become pregnant having been mainstream in the United States for nearly half a century.

The Alabama Supreme Court recently ruled that embryos are children under the law — prompting at least three fertility clinics in that state to halt treatment — and more than a dozen other states are considering IVF restrictions. In June, the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, voted to oppose IVF treatments, while the U.S. Senate blocked legislation that would have made it a nationwide right for women to access fertility treatments.

These developments beg the question: How would making IVF unavailable affect the many couples who are building their dreams of a family on the use of this technology?

A new Stanford study provides novel, concrete evidence on how these involuntarily infertile couples are affected: infertility leads to poorer mental health among both partners and a hefty hike in the likelihood of divorce.

Petra Persson, an assistant professor of economics...