Shady Grove Fertility Partners with RESOLVE to Garner Legislative Support on Advocacy Day 2015
Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) May 20, 2015 -- On May 14, 2015, Shady Grove Fertility physicians, staff, and patients convened with over 170 advocates from across the country to support legislative initiatives to assist the 1 in 8 couples who experience infertility.
“Infertility is often misunderstood, or at best, poorly understood by those who have not experienced it. On Advocacy Day, patients, volunteers, and professionals have the opportunity to educate legislators from all 50 states that infertility is in fact a disease affecting both women and men. The trained advocates educate legislators and their staffs about infertility legislation before Congress, provide additional and personal insight, and ask for support to pass various bills,” said Gilbert L. Mottla, M.D., of Shady Grove Fertility’s Annapolis, MD, office.
A Visionary Partner of RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association and a sponsor of Advocacy Day, Shady Grove Fertility asked members of Congress to support three important issues this year that affect the infertility community: The Women Veterans and Families Health Services Act of 2015, the National Public Health Action Plan for the Detection, Prevention and Management of Infertility, and the Adoption Tax Credit Refundability Act of 2015.
The Women Veterans and Families Health Services Act of 2015 would provide veterans wounded in the line of duty with access to assisted reproductive technologies (ART) and adoption assistance. While Shady Grove Fertility provides a Military Discount Program for service members, TRICARE or the Veterans Administration does not cover in vitro fertilization (IVF). This bill seeks to change that by expanding available treatment and care.
The National Public Health Action Plan for the Detection, Prevention and Management of Infertility—drafted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and released in June 2014—identified a number of scientific and programmatic steps for the CDC, non-governmental organizations, healthcare providers, and others, to implement to help increase infertility awareness. Shady Grove Fertility and other advocates urged Congress to support the Plan, which will need funding.
Finally, advocates sought support for the Adoption Tax Credit Refundability Act of 2015. While this tax credit has existed since 1997, refundability provisions are not currently in place. Establishing those provisions would provide lower-income families with the ability to adopt and support a child from foster care.
About Shady Grove Fertility
Shady Grove Fertility is a leading fertility and IVF center of excellence offering patients individualized care, innovative financial options, and pregnancy rates among the highest of all national centers. Since 1991, more than 37,000 babies have been born to patients from all 50 states and over 35 countries around the world. Shady Grove Fertility physicians actively train residents and reproductive endocrine fellows and invest in continuous clinical research and education to advance the field of reproductive medicine through numerous academic appointments and partnerships with Georgetown Medical School, Walter Reed, and the National Institutes of Health. Today, 32 reproductive endocrinologists, PhD scientists, geneticists, and more than 600 highly specialized Shady Grove Fertility staff care for patients in 18 full-service offices, and four satellite sites throughout Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. For more information, call 1-888-761-1967 or visit http://www.shadygrovefertility.com.
Courtney Cohen, Shady Grove Fertility, http://www.shadygrovefertility.com, +1 (202) 997-4515, [email protected]
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