On February 16, 2024, Alabama ruled that frozen embryos are considered children. After the ruling many families who rely on IVF were looking for alternative options because the limited number of clinics that offer IVF treatment shut their doors. This caused a severe backlash against the Alabama state government, which is still prominent today.
On February 22, 2024, Alabama fertility clinics claimed they would no longer provide the in vitro fertilization treatment. In an ABC article, an Alabama Fertility Specialist was asked about the decision made, and how they would affect future services. “We are contacting patients who will be affected today to find solutions for them, and we are working as hard as we can to alert our legislators to the far-reaching negative impact of this ruling on the women of Alabama.” In other words, if women want to start their families through IVF, these fertility clinics cannot help them, due to this implemented law. However, it has been recently reported that Alabama decided to protect these clinics.
The incident that struck this court ruling was when a patient wandered into a fertility clinic, passed through an unsecured door, removed several embryos, and accidentally dropped them on the floor. A death lawsuit filed by the couples whose embryos were destroyed was brought to the Alabama State Supreme Court, which later reversed the decision of the lower court decision and further deemed “frozen embryos are considered children.”
With this new abortion law, it could affect other states, including Florida. As this lawsuit and law become more prominent and known throughout the rest of the country, it could be taken to the United States Supreme Court and become federal instead of state, thus changing abortion laws overall as we know it. Recently, Florida lawmakers postponed their bill, saying fetuses have civil rights. This happened after a similar ruling in Alabama.
Recently, a new law has been implemented that does not address February’s unprecedented ruling which caused some IVF clinics to shut down, and according to CNN, experts believe that there is going to have to be a lot of work put in to fully protect Alabama fertility services and clinics. The new legislation that was passed by Governor Kay Ivey aims “to provide civil and criminal immunity to providers and patients for the destruction or damage to embryos.”
