IVF

Many of the people in Kansas who are homeless do have an income, but housing is simply too expensive to afford a place to live. Plus: Missouri law doesn't clearly IVF, so what's the risk of the procedure being outlawed?

A decades-old Missouri law states life begins at conception, which some IVF patients worry puts the procedure at risk. Fertility lawyer Tim Schlesinger said court cases protect the in vitro fertilization, for now.

In the two years following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that overturned abortion protections nationwide, the practice was almost entirely banned in Missouri. Meanwhile, clinics in Kansas have seen out-of-state abortion patients skyrocket.

Southern Baptists voted to oppose In Vitro Fertilization for the first time during their convention in Indianapolis. It’s a move that, some worry, could indicate a growing push among conservative groups to advance arguments for fetal personhood and further restrict reproductive choice.

Despite outcries from families following the temporary blocking of in vitro fertilization services in Alabama earlier this year, Missouri lawmakers failed to pass legislation guaranteeing the procedure.

Kansas will be the first state to let foster teens pick a family without losing foster care benefits. Plus: A number of Midwestern states, including Kansas and Missouri, introduced legislation this year that would give rights to embryos and fetuses.

Thirteen states across the U.S., including much of the Midwest, introduced bills this year that could give some rights to embryos and fetuses usually associated with people. None passed but people in the fertility world are concerned that lawmakers will try again and what that means for reproductive rights.