Hannah Miles of Birmingham speaks with Dr. Mamie MacLean outside the Alabama State Capitol on February 28, 2024 in Montgomery, Alabama. They were among patients and doctors urging Alabama lawmakers to take action to increase access to IVF services in the state. Fertility clinics have suspended some services following a state court ruling on whether a fetus is a child under state law.
Kim Chandler/Associated Press
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Kim Chandler/Associated Press
Hannah Miles of Birmingham speaks with Dr. Mamie MacLean outside the Alabama State Capitol on February 28, 2024 in Montgomery, Alabama. They were among patients and doctors urging Alabama lawmakers to take action to increase access to IVF services in the state. Fertility clinics have suspended some services following a state court ruling on whether a fetus is a child under state law.
Kim Chandler/Associated Press
The Alabama Legislature passed a bill Wednesday night that would provide civil and criminal immunity to providers and recipients of in vitro fertilization services.
Republican Gov. Kay Ivey signed the bill into law less than an hour after it passed the Alabama Senate.
This law allows patients and clinics in Alabama to immediately obtain IVF treatment without fear of legal repercussions if an embryo is damaged or destroyed during a medical procedure or related services such as embryo storage or transportation. The aim is to enable reopening.
Last month, many clinics closed their IVF services after the state Supreme Court's ruling that frozen embryos are “children” with a constitutional right to life thrust IVF into uncertain legal territory. was temporarily suspended.
IVF clinics routinely discard non-viable or leftover embryos, which could be considered manslaughter or murder under new legal precedent.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham, one of the state's largest IVF providers, said the law “provides certain protections and therefore allows UAB to resume in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment.” issued a statement.
Another IVF provider told NPR earlier in the day that he was already scheduling a patient's embryo transfer for Thursday in anticipation of the immunization law.
Public anger over court ruling puts pressure on lawmakers
After intense criticism and protests from patients, parents, and medical professionals, the state legislature moved quickly to pass legislation that would allow IVF treatments to resume.
“They are hearing us loud and clear that this is impacting Alabama families,” said Colin O’Brien of the Alabama Families Fight Coalition. She is one of hundreds of advocates lobbying in the state Legislature, and says her efforts and more than 20,000 emails have increased pressure on Alabama lawmakers to take action.
“The last few weeks have been devastating for people, leaving them confused as to what is going to happen,” O'Brien said. She herself became pregnant through IVF, when a court ruling that sympathized with those in the midst of treatment forced a pause.
Prioritize speed over impact
Sponsors of the bill in the Alabama House and Senate say the immunity bill is only a stopgap measure to allow infertility treatments to resume while lawmakers address remaining issues raised by the court ruling. The matter may take some time to resolve.
“I think there's too much disagreement about when real life starts,” said the immunity bill's sponsor, Republican Sen. Tim Melson, a physician.
“A lot of people talk about conception, a lot of people talk about implantation, a lot of people talk about heartbeat,” Melson acknowledged. “I wish I had an answer.”
Melson acknowledged during floor debate that the bill leaves many unanswered questions, including whether embryos frozen for 30 years before implantation would be considered 30 years old at birth.
“Maybe we can make them get a driver's license as soon as they are born,” he mused. “I don't know, but these are questions we have to answer.”
Melson told NPR that the bill was originally intended to define personhood, but that language was removed to speed up the bill's passage. Still, he argued his immunity bill accomplishes the short-term goal of allowing people to resume treatment without fear that further changes to state law could lead to future prosecutions.
Rep. Terry Collins, whose identical House immunity bill passed a vote just three days after it was introduced, emphasized to his colleagues that the bill is a necessary legislative stopgap.
“Right now, the law provides fairly broad immunity, which is what motivates us to continue to work on this issue towards a long-term solution,” he said.
However, not all members agreed to kick in the future.
Unresolved questions emerge during debate during bill passage
Democratic state Rep. Chris England worried that once the immunity bill was signed into law, lawmakers would lose their sense of urgency and be unable to reconsider the issue of fetal sexuality.
“We understand there are major problems with dispensary moratoriums…and immunity provides some relief from lawsuits,” England said during floor debate. Still, he urged his colleagues to add personal language to the existing bill.
“Our temporary solutions here are like running a water hose around a burning tree in a burning forest,” England's Prime Minister said. He stressed that this will do nothing to resolve the minefield of legal issues that remain. Whether non-in vitro fertilization services could be charged with murder, or whether the state would be required to protect abandoned frozen embryos.
“I don't know if we're prepared to create an Alabama Cryogenic Authority, but that's a question,” England told House members.
Republican state Rep. Ernie Yarbrough likens the routine destruction of embryos by clinics to a “Holocaust” and continues the moratorium on IVF to “make sure we are not supporting the destruction of children's lives.” argued that it should be done.
TV program in which speeches include quotations from the Bible Reacher, Yarbrough proposed an amendment to the bill that would add, “No person who intentionally causes the death of an unborn child will be entitled to immunity.”
That amendment, which would have effectively negated the entire intent of the Immunity Bill, was defeated, and the bill was passed as a simple two-section bill.
