Elizabeth Lee’s historic run for Congress bridges reproductive medicine and federal policy.
By: Angela Buer, MA
Alexandra Kennedy, PhD
Cathy Peréz
In a milestone moment for reproductive healthcare, Elizabeth Lee, RN, C-RHI, BCPA, has become the first member of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) to seek election to the U.S. Congress. Her candidacy for Arizona’s 5th Congressional District, once represented by the late Senator John McCain during the early days of his political career, also makes her the first woman ever to run for—and potentially serve in—this seat.
Lee’s campaign reflects a professional lifetime devoted to fertility care, patient advocacy, and clinical process redesign. Her decision to pursue a move from the clinic to Congress underscores a growing recognition that the future of reproductive medicine hinges not only on science but also on policy.
A Clinician’s Path to Policy
With over a decade of experience in infertility and reproductive medicine, Lee has led operational-efficiency initiatives across fertility clinics nationwide. Her consulting practice emphasizes alignment with ASRM guidelines, ensuring compliance, patient safety, and ethical transparency in a field that remains lightly regulated but deeply consequential.
“Infertility care is built on evidence and empathy,” Lee says. “Yet access to that care is too often dictated by politics and profit instead of science.”
This observation, born of clinical reality, propelled her from healthcare into public service.
A Platform Grounded in Evidence and Equity
Lee’s campaign is anchored in the principle of putting people before politics—a value she describes as the nursing ethic applied to governance. Her priorities include:
1. Expanding Insurance Coverage for the Full Spectrum of Reproductive Care
Advocating for federal legislation to classify infertility diagnosis and treatment as essential health benefits, consistent with ASRM policy.
2. Protecting IVF and Reproductive Autonomy
Opposing “personhood” legislation and ensuring reproductive medicine remains grounded in evidence, not ideology.
3. Fertility Education and Early Intervention
Integrating fertility awareness and baseline reproductive assessment into primary-care and school-based health initiatives.
4. Transparency and Accountability
Supporting national standards for outcome and cost reporting among fertility clinics to strengthen patient trust.
5. Elevating Nurse Leadership and Patient Advocacy
Championing nurse-led navigation and advocacy roles in reproductive healthcare to reduce systemic barriers to care.
A Historic Opportunity for the Field
Though long considered a conservative stronghold, Arizona’s 5th District has the chance to send its first female representative to the Capitol, and its first Democrat in 15 years. Lee will lead with a sense of duty and public service and proudly represent everyone in Arizona’s 5th District. Even from across the aisle, Lee hopes to unite where science, compassion, and access to care define public policy.
Her candidacy also arrives at a critical inflection point: IVF and fertility care are increasingly politicized, while patient costs and insurance gaps continue to widen. For the reproductive medicine community, Lee’s run represents something larger than one race—it’s a chance for the field itself to have a seat at the table where national healthcare policy is written.
A Call to the Fertility Community
Lee has called on clinicians, embryologists, and practice leaders across the field to help bring evidence-based care into the policy arena. “Our work changes lives,” she says. “But when the laws governing that work are written without our input, patients suffer. It’s time for that to change.”
Her campaign has already sparked national attention among fertility professionals who see in her run not just political ambition but professional representation—an advocate who speaks both the language of the lab and of the legislature.
Elizabeth Lee appeared on Episode 218 of the Inside Reproductive Health Podcast.
To learn more about Lee’s campaign, visit her website.
Learn more about her historic membership in the American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s PRIMED Policy Fellowship