Facing backlash over IVF ruling, Alabama lawmakers look for a fix

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Lawmakers scrambled for ways to protect Alabama in vitro fertilization services after multiple providers paused services in the wake of a state Supreme Court ruling frozen embryos could be considered children under a state law.

Facing a wave of backlash from the decision, legislators prepared proposals in the House and Senate that would seek to prevent a fertilized egg from being recognized as a human life or an unborn child under state laws until it is implanted in a woman’s uterus.

Justices ruled last week three couples who had frozen embryos destroyed in a mishap at a storage facility could pursue wrongful death claims for their “extrauterine children.” Justices cited sweeping language that the GOP-controlled Legislature and voters added to the Alabama Constitution in 2018 saying that the state recognizes the “rights of the unborn child.”

Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, a Democrat, said Republicans helped create the situation while enacting some of the most stringent anti-abortion laws in the country. The result, he said, was eliminating a path for people to become parents.

“At the end of the day, the Republican Party has to be responsible for what they have done,” Singleton said.

State Republican lawmakers said they were working on a solution.

“Alabamians strongly believe in protecting the rights of the unborn, but the result of the ... ruling denies many ... the opportunity to conceive, which is a direct contradiction,” House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter said.

Republican state Sen. Tim Melson said his proposal seeks to clarify a fertilized egg is a “potential life” and not a human life until it is implanted in the uterus.

“I’m just trying to come up with a solution for the IVF industry and protect the doctors and still make it available for people who have fertility issues that need to be addressed because they want to have a family,” Melson said.