Alabama IVF provider pauses parts of program after ruling on frozen embryos
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A second in vitro fertilization provider in Alabama is pausing parts of its care to patients after the state Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are legally considered children.
Alabama Fertility Services said in a statement Thursday that has "made the impossibly difficult decision to hold new IVF treatments due to the legal risk to our clinic and our embryologists."
The decision comes a day after the University of Alabama at Birmingham health system said in a statement that it was pausing IVF treatments so it could evaluate whether its patients or doctors could face criminal charges or punitive damages.
"We are contacting patients that will be affected today to find solutions for them and we are 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," Alabama Fertility said. "AFS will not close. We will continue to fight for our patients and the families of Alabama."
Doctors and patients have been grappling with shock and fear this week as they try to determine what they can and can't do after the ruling by the all-Republican Alabama Supreme Court that raises questions about the future of IVF.
Alabama Fertility Services' decision left Gabby Goidel, who was days from an expected egg retrieval, calling clinics across the South looking for a place to continue IVF care.
"I freaked out. I started crying. I felt in an extreme limbo state. They did not have all the answers. I did not obviously any answers," Goidel said.
The Alabama ruling came down Friday, the same day Goidel began a 10-day series of injections ahead of egg retrieval, with the hopes of getting pregnant through IVF next month. She found a place in Texas that will continue her care and plans to travel there Thursday night.
Goidel experienced three miscarriages and she and her husband turned to IVF as a way of fulfilling their dream of becoming parents.