After the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos created through in vitro fertilization are children and entitled to the same legal rights as “unborn children,” multiple clinics in the state suspended IVF services to consider the legal repercussions of the decision.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham was the first IVF provider to announce the move.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham health system is pausing all in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments for fear of lawsuits and criminal prosecution following a recent ruling from the state supreme court. https://t.co/ly5TkP3bQf pic.twitter.com/FwIkNCUFBN
— The Hill (@thehill) February 21, 2024
“We have made the impossibly difficult decision to hold new IVF treatments due to the legal risk to our clinic and our embryologists,” Alabama Fertility Specialists announced on social media.
Mobile’s Center for Reproductive Medicine, the clinic sued in the court case, announced it would pause IVF services.
NBC News reports:
In its statement, Alabama Fertility said it was trying to find solutions for affected patients and “working as hard as we can to alert our legislators as to the far reaching negative impact of this ruling on the women of Alabama.”
Hannah Echols, a spokesperson for UAB, said that health system will continue to offer egg retrieval but will no longer fertilize eggs or develop embryos.
ADVERTISEMENT“We are saddened that this will impact our patients’ attempt to have a baby through IVF, but we must evaluate the potential that our patients and our physicians could be prosecuted criminally or face punitive damages for following the standard of care for IVF treatments,” Echols said in a statement.
The practice of IVF involves combining sperm and eggs in a lab to create embryos, then implanting one or more of those embryos in a person’s uterus. Extra embryos are often frozen and stored; however, embryos are also frequently discarded if they have genetic abnormalities or if patients do not need to use them.
Because of the Alabama Supreme Court ruling, IVF providers now fear they or their patients could face legal penalties if they discard any embryos.
A Republican state legislator has proposed a bill to protect IVF in the state.
Alabama Republican state lawmaker proposes bill to reverse IVF bill | Click on the image to read the full story https://t.co/2S1f5nWlI5
— WVTM 13 (@WVTM13) February 23, 2024
WVTM 13 reports:
Republican state Sen. Tim Melson, who is also a doctor, said he is not surprised by the unintended consequences and is proposing a bill to protect IVF in the state.
“We have advanced so far in medicine that we’re storing everything from embryos to sperm to eggs for future use,” he said. “We hadn’t really thought about the consequences of that, and it’s time to figure that out. I’m just saying that until it’s implanted in the uterus, there’s potential life and that people shouldn’t be criminalized or be held harmful for things that happen. They should be held harmless, and I think a lot of things that, again, that happened in those clinics are for good people just wanting to have a family with a normal life and raise kids.”
The bill is also gaining support from Democrats state house minority leader Anthony Daniels hopes the bill buys lawmakers some more time.
“What we’re trying to do with this particular law is put the Supreme Court decision—the ruling — on pause,” he said. “And then putting it on pause, we know we’re trying to clearly help folks understand that a fertilized embryo is not a child.”
ADVERTISEMENTA change in Alabama state law might be the only way to reverse the decision. The state Supreme Court cases can be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but only when they rely on the U.S. Constitution. This ruling relies heavily on the Alabama constitution.
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