Alabama moves legislation to protect IVF
If passed, law would shield providers from suits and help mitigate fallout from state high court decision.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama lawmakers facing public pressure to get in vitro fertilization services restarted in the state advanced legislation Tuesday to shield providers from the fallout of a court ruling that equated frozen embryos with children.
Committees in the state Senate and House approved identical bills that would protect providers from lawsuits and criminal prosecution for the “damage or death of an embryo” during IVF services.
The state’s three major IVF providers paused services after the Alabama Supreme Court ruling last month that three couples who had frozen embryos destroyed in an accident at a storage facility could pursue wrongful-death lawsuits for their “extrauterine children.” The ruling, treating
an embryo the same as a child or gestating fetus under the wrongful-death statute, raised concerns about civil liabilities for clinics.
The court decision caused an immediate backlash. Patients in Alabama shared stories of having upcoming embryo transfers abruptly canceled and their paths to parenthood put in doubt.
Lawmakers are aiming to give final approval Wednesday and send the legislation to Gov. Kay Ivey to be signed into law.
Lawmakers have fasttracked the immunity legislation
as a proposed solution to get clinics back open as they weigh whether additional action is needed. Republicans in the GOP-dominated Alabama Legislature have shied away from proposals that would address the legal status of embryos created in IVF labs.
Beth and Joshua DavisDillard watched as the Senate committee voted. After moving from New York, the couple transferred frozen embryos left over from when they had their twins to Alabama.
“We’ve been working up to getting ready to trying again. We still have embryos from our prior cycle, which we did in New York. We transferred them here. We can’t use them. We’re on hold,” Beth Davis-Dillard said. “I’m 44, so time is limited.”
Beth Davis-Dillard said she feels “very helpless and very frustrated” and in a “little bit of disbelief.”
The legislative proposals state that “no action, suit, or criminal prosecution for the damage to or death of an embryo shall be brought or maintained against any individual or entity when providing or receiving services related to in vitro fertilization.”
Civil lawsuits could be pursued against manufacturers of IVF-related goods, such as the nutrient-rich solutions used to grow embryos, but damages would be capped and criminal prosecution would be forbidden. Doctors have expressed concern that without some protections for manufacturers, they will not be able to get the products they need to provide IVF.
The American Society for Reproductive Medicine, a group representing IVF providers across the country, said the legislation does not go far enough.