Emma Waters is a 28-year-old policy strategist at the Heritage Foundation whose output of op-eds and papers about reproductive technology has quietly made her a key force in conservative politics. Working from home in a Pennsylvania suburb, she has shaped recent moves including Florida’s ban on international surrogacy and the Texas GOP’s turn against IVF. She also has been able to blunt proposals such as "Trump's 'fertilization president' initiatives."
Her position is that unregulated fertility technology creates moral and ethical problems that liberals tend to avoid. That stance is increasingly visible in a $10 billion fertility industry that is already struggling with negative headlines about surrogacy, embryo mix-ups, and gene editing. The safety and business outlook for fertility companies now depends in part on strategists like Waters, who can influence the kind of regulatory and legislative pressure these businesses face.