Patience Sunne, Author at Them Before Us

What Louisiana Pro-Life Leaders Get Wrong About “Protecting IVF”

by Patience Sunne | May 14, 2025 | The Latest

The appropriate, pro-life response to the Alabama ruling is not to gut Louisiana’s IVF laws. Rather, it is to recognize that ultimately, it is up to the industry to avoid another “Alabama situation” by maintaining standards that would have prevented the events that led to the Court case in the first place, and to reinforce those standards through legislative action that establishes, maintains, and reinforces accountability. Sen. Pressly’s bill does the opposite.

What Republican Legislators Get Wrong about ‘Right to IVF’ Bills

by Patience Sunne | Apr 1, 2025 | The Latest

(Originally published in The Washington Stand) A seemingly innocuous in vitro fertilization approach that has been embraced by conservative lawmakers in multiple states is to propose bills that clarify that the “right” to IVF is protected in state law. Unlike more...

Oklahoma Bill Encourages Marriage With State Tax Credits For Hitched Parents

by Patience Sunne | Feb 5, 2025 | The Latest

(Originally published in The Federalist) The United States has the world’s highest rate of kids being raised in single-parent homes. This is alarming, considering the benefits children gain when being raised by their married parents, including greater academic...

Illusions of Control and the Ableism of Big Fertility

by Patience Sunne | Nov 14, 2024 | Surrogacy, The Latest

(Originally published in Public Discourse) It would be hard to come up with a more horrifying and heartbreaking headline than this: “I Caught Our Surrogate Drinking and Made Her Abort the Baby.” The article details Marty and Melinda Rangers’s experience with...

Massachusetts Bill Would Allow Women To Sell Their Unborn Children

by Patience Sunne | Jun 18, 2024 | The Latest

(Originally published in The Federalist) On June 12, the Massachusetts House is expected to vote on a bill that would allow mothers to exchange their children for money—that is, engage in baby-selling—under the name of “parentage equality.” The “Parentage Equality”...

What Ted Cruz, Katie Britt Get Wrong About IVF

by Patience Sunne | May 24, 2024 | IVF

(Originally published in The Daily Signal) Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Katie Britt, R-Ala., announced Monday that they are introducing a bill that would ensure access to in vitro fertilization by amending the Social Security Act. Under their IVF Protection Act, any...

Revisiting the Primal Wound

by Patience Sunne | Apr 23, 2024 | Foundations, Studies

Whether one calls it a “Primal Wound” or simply trauma, maternal separation and loss are no small matter and must never be dismissed or downplayed. When we choose to put Them (children) before Us (the adults) we recognize that children are harmed when adults refuse to do hard things.

Opposition to Michigan Surrogacy HBs 5207–5215

by Patience Sunne | Nov 2, 2023 | Justice, The Latest

Dear Chair Breen and members, Them Before Us is a nonprofit committed to defending children’s rights to their mothers and fathers. We are writing in opposition to HBs 5207–5215 because of the significant and lasting harm that they pose to Michigan’s most vulnerable...

Win for Children’s Rights: Them Before Us Combated Bill in Minnesota Subsidizing Donor Conception

by Patience Sunne | Jun 2, 2023 | Justice, The Latest

Them Before Us joined with allies in Minnesota to combat a bill that would have required insurance companies to subsidize the fertility industry and intentionally deny children a relationship with one or both of their biological parents. At the end of Minnesota’s legislative session the language was removed from the final version of the Health and Human Services Omnibus bill in conference committee.