The Alabama House of Representatives and Senate have passed legislation to allow access to in vitro fertilization following a controversial state Supreme Court ruling that embryos are children, raising questions about the treatment in Alabama.
The state senate approved the bill after passing the lower chamber by a vote of 94 to 6.
Alabama Passes Bill To Protect IVF
According to The Guardian, the legislation is expected to be signed by the governor, which could make the provision law early next week. The bill, HB 237, was approved following a three-hour debate.
It followed an earlier rally where medical professionals, IVF patients, and their families urged lawmakers to resolve the issue quickly.
The bill states that unless an act or omission is intentional and not arising from or related to IVF services, no action, suit, or criminal prosecution shall be brought or upheld against anyone who will provide IVF goods or services.
Furthermore, the bill stipulates that any act, omission, or course of services that are not the subject of litigation on the effective date of this act would be covered retroactively by immunity.
Republican congressman Terri Collins, the bill's sponsor, said it would at least keep the clinics open and the families moving forward while lawmakers consider if more action was required.
However, Republican lawmaker Mark Gidley expressed concerns to the chamber and said the measure was a "knee-jerk reaction" as he did not want Alabama to lose its status as a pro-life state. According to Al.com, he stated that frozen embryos needed to be recognized as human life.
Democrat Laura Hall questioned Collins about why certain IVF facilities in the state were still operating. "I know you're coming with this Band-Aid today," Hall said.
She continued that a big open wound out there needs to be taken care of. Collins said she did not know why some had closed while others remained open.
Alabama House Democrats have introduced an amendment to the state constitution, saying that human embryos held in storage outside a woman's uterus are not considered an unborn child or human being for any purpose under state law.
During the debate, Chris England, a Democrat from Tuscaloosa, highlighted the delicate nature of the issue by saying if embryos are truly children, then the state, which prohibits abortion except in cases of rape, may have to take custody of them if the owner ceases paying for the service.
Representative Arnold Mooney, a Republican, stated that "bio ethics is a massive issue." Mooney said, "God creates, not man."
The Alabama Supreme Court ruled that three couples whose frozen embryos were destroyed in a storage mishap could file wrongful death lawsuits for their "extrauterine children," which led to the introduction of the new legislation.
US Senate Republicans Block IVF Protection Bill
On Wednesday, a federal bill was introduced that would make it illegal to restrict IVF treatments, bringing up questions in the thinking of anti-abortion, pro-IVF Republicans.
Florida Republican senator Marco Rubio said he supports IVF, but he also believes that human lives are being wasted when frozen embryos are utilized for operations. Rubio stressed, "In the balance of things, how do our laws recognize the dignity of that human life and also understand what it enables is a life-creating procedure?"
However, Mississippi Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith opposed the bill, named after Senator Tammy Duckworth, saying it went too far since no state banned IVF. Hyde-Smith argued that he support the ability for mothers and fathers to have total access to IVF and bring new life into the world.
