Legislative Committee
Eva Schenkman, M.Sc., TS(ABB), CLT(NYS)

Dear CRB Members,

I am honored to assume the role of the Legislative Committee Chair for the CRB. This certainly has been a very tumultuous year!

During this difficult political climate, we are closely monitoring legislation on both the state and federal level that may impact our field. Particularly, we are concerned about the “Personhood” bills. In case you are not aware, “Personhood” laws seek to classify fertilized eggs, zygotes, embryos, and fetuses as “persons,” and to grant them full legal protection under the U.S. Constitution, including the right to life from the moment of conception. Over the past few years, over 100 Personhood bills have attempted to be passed, fortunately none yet have succeeded, but we must remain vigilant. Currently, there are over 20 pending in various states. If you would like to keep current on the status of some of these bills, you can sign up for alerts through RESOLVE at this link: https://resolve.org/get-involved/become-an-advocate/our-issues/current-legislation/state-bills/2020-state-advocacy-efforts/.

Our second effort is to create an up-to-date database of current licensure requirements in each state for Technologists/Technicians that wish to work in IVF (Embryology/Andrology and Endocrinology). This information can often be difficult to find but is crucial if you may be considering relocating to a new state.

I want to acknowledge my FANTASTIC committee members, consisting of Kathryn J. Go, Ph.D., HCLD(ABB); Sung Tae Kim, Ph.D., HCLD(ABB); Dennis Marchesi Sr., M.Sc., ELS/ALS(AAB); Katherine Scott, M.Sc., TS(ABB); Simone Yap, BS, ELD/TS(ABB); and Khalied Kaskar, M.Sc., TS(ABB).

I hope you are all staying safe and I will keep you posted on our projects!