Overview · Brief 2 of 3

What This Plan Means for Your Body and Your Choices

The Heritage Foundation plan doesn't just propose one rule about reproductive rights. It creates a whole system of connected policies that, together, would change who gets to make decisions about pregnancy, fertility treatment, contraception, and healthcare.
Source: Heritage Foundation, "Saving America by Saving the Family," January 2026 · Analysis by Social Intelligence Initiative
Read the original report here

The Big Picture

This plan says human life should be legally protected from the moment an egg is fertilized — not when a baby is born, not when it can survive outside the womb, but at the very first moment of conception. That one idea changes everything: it affects IVF, some forms of birth control, embryo research, surrogacy, and abortion. On top of that, the plan would redirect government health clinics away from birth control and toward "natural" fertility methods, and would eliminate gender identity from the law entirely.

Seven Ways This Plan Would Limit Your Options

1. A Fertilized Egg Would Be a Legal Person

Biggest Change

The plan says life begins at the moment sperm meets egg. If that becomes law, then a fertilized egg has the same legal rights as a born person. That means:

What this means in real life

During IVF, doctors usually create several embryos and pick the healthiest ones. The rest are frozen or discarded. Under this plan, throwing away an embryo could be treated as harming a legal person. Some forms of birth control that might prevent a fertilized egg from implanting (like IUDs) could also be challenged in court.

1M+
Frozen embryos already in storage in the U.S.

2. IVF Would Be Restricted

Major Change

The plan says IVF has led to "the creation, freezing, and then destruction of millions of 'unwanted' human embryos." It wants the government to push people toward a different approach called Restorative Reproductive Medicine (RRM) — which uses natural methods to try to fix the underlying cause of infertility instead. The government would change how insurance pays for fertility treatment to favor RRM over IVF.

What this means in real life

If you can't have a baby and RRM doesn't work for your condition — like severe blocked tubes or very low sperm count — you might not have another option. About 80,000 babies are born through IVF each year in the U.S. That number would drop significantly.

80K
IVF babies born each year at risk
$8B
Fertility industry affected

3. Surrogacy Would Be Banned

Major Change

The plan calls surrogacy a way of treating children and women like products to be bought and sold. It supports a worldwide ban on commercial surrogacy. It also rejects the idea of artificial wombs, calling them "dystopian."

What this means in real life

Surrogacy is the main way gay male couples can have biological children. It's also used by women who can't safely carry a pregnancy. A ban would eliminate this path to parenthood entirely.

4. Birth Control Would Be Harder to Get

Indirect Change

The plan doesn't say "ban birth control." But it blames the birth control pill for causing the decline of the American family. And it would redirect government health clinic funding away from birth control and toward "fertility awareness" — basically, tracking your cycle to know when you're fertile.

Also: if fertilized eggs are legal persons, then IUDs and Plan B (which may prevent a fertilized egg from implanting) could face legal challenges.

What this means in real life

If you get your birth control through a government-funded clinic (3.6 million women do each year), your clinic might have to switch from offering pills and IUDs to offering cycle-tracking classes instead. You'd need to find — and pay for — your birth control somewhere else.

3.6M
Women who use these clinics each year
4.5M
IUD users potentially affected

5. Abortion Access Would Shrink Further

Major Change

The plan treats the number of abortions as a way to measure whether the government's family policies are working. If abortions go down, the policy is succeeding. Combined with the "life from fertilization" rule, this creates a framework designed to make abortion nearly impossible.

6. Trans Healthcare Would Lose Its Legal Basis

Major Change

The plan would remove "gender identity" from the law entirely. It calls it a "made-up" concept. Without gender identity in the law, there's no legal basis for insurance to cover hormone therapy or transition-related care. Doctors could refuse to treat transgender patients without legal consequences.

1.6M
Trans adults affected
300K
Trans youth affected

7. Government Health Clinics Would Change What They Do

Structural Change

Title X is a federal program that funds 3,900+ health clinics across the country, mostly serving low-income women. The plan would change the law so these clinics shift from providing birth control to teaching "fertility awareness" and natural fertility treatment. Government research money (NIH) would also be redirected from studying IVF to studying "root causes" of infertility.

What this means in real life

The clinic where you get affordable birth control, STI testing, and reproductive health checkups might be forced to change its mission — or lose its government funding. The $286 million that runs these clinics would go to a very different kind of program.

3,900+
Clinics affected
$286M
Annual funding redirected

How Much Would Each Area Be Restricted?

Embryo rights
Full legal personhood from fertilization
Abortion
Designed to eliminate through multiple policies
Surrogacy
Global ban supported
Trans healthcare
Gender identity removed from law
IVF
Restricted by embryo rules + pushed toward RRM
Health clinics
Funding shifted to fertility awareness
Birth control
Not banned, but some types face legal risk

Which Groups Would Feel This the Most?

LGBTQ+ People Who Want Kids

Surrogacy banned, IVF restricted, excluded from marriage benefits, gender identity removed

Every path to parenthood blocked

Couples Struggling with Infertility

IVF restricted, insurance pushed toward RRM, 30% with unexplained infertility may have no option

Severe impact

Low-Income Women

Health clinics lose birth control funding, harder to access affordable contraception

Severe impact

Transgender People

Gender identity erased from law, healthcare framework collapses, parental rights at risk

Extreme impact

Women with Endometriosis/PCOS

More research funding for their conditions (good) — but only focused on fertility, not pain relief

Mixed — some help, some limits

Doctors & Fertility Clinics

IVF clinics face restrictions, health clinics forced to change services, providers can refuse care

Significant impact

How These Policies Work Together

Fertilized eggs become legal persons
IVF can't discard embryos anymore, so it becomes much harder and more expensive
Insurance gets pushed to cover "natural" methods instead
Surrogacy is banned, so gay couples and some infertile couples have no options left
Health clinics shift from birth control to cycle tracking
Low-income women lose easy access to affordable contraception
The only fully supported path to having a family is: be straight, get married, conceive naturally

When Would This Happen?

Happening Now
The health department (HHS) is already aligning with the "Make America Healthy Again" agenda. Some policy changes don't need Congress — they can happen through executive orders.
Next 1-2 Years
Clinic funding redirected. Research money shifted. New rules about how insurance covers fertility treatment. Religious doctors get more freedom to refuse services.
3-5 Years
Congress changes the law on clinic funding. Surrogacy restrictions passed. New marriage-only benefits become law.
5+ Years
Courts rule that embryos are legal persons. Gender identity permanently removed from law. The whole system for reproductive healthcare is fundamentally different.