The following is an excerpt of a New York Times article, titled “Under Trump, a New Focus for a Birth Control Program: Helping Women Get Pregnant,” that includes perspective from Jamie Bardwell, a co-founder at Converge:
A Health and Human Services Department regulation issued in 2021, under President Joseph R. Biden Jr., specified that Title X can be used to cover “basic infertility care.” At Title X clinics today, experts and providers say, infertility services are limited, including only simple, low-cost services, like preliminary counseling and screening for health issues such as fibroid tumors that might prevent a woman from becoming pregnant. Once a woman needs medical intervention to treat infertility, she is typically referred to another provider.
Jamie H. Bardwell, a co-founder of Converge, an organization that administers Title X grants in Mississippi and Tennessee, said her group already focuses on infertility.
“We have emphasized to everyone who will listen to us, including our members of Congress, that basic infertility counseling is one of our core Title X services that we offer through telehealth, including shipments of free ovulation test kits, and infertility testing and counseling,” she said. “We should be helping women get pregnant, if that’s what they want.”