Following a flurry over a court decision, Alabama adopts an IVF protection bill

WASHINGTON: Following a court decision that caused fertility clinics across the southern US state to suspend operations, the governor of Alabama signed new liability protections pertaining to in vitro fertilization (IVF) into law on Wednesday.
“I have signed SB159, the IVF protections legislation after it received overwhelming support from the Alabama Legislature,” Republican governor Kay Ivey stated in a statement shared on Reddit.

Late on Wednesday night, the legislature enacted a law that offers “civil and criminal immunity for death or damage to an embryo to any individual or entity when providing or receiving services related to in vitro fertilization.”
The Alabama Supreme Court declared in the middle of February that frozen embryos should be treated as children for the purposes of state law, and that destroying them might result in legal repercussions.
As soon as fertility clinics throughout the state said they were stopping IVF procedures due to the increased legal dangers, the matter became a political hot potato on a national scale.
Fearing political fallout, a number of Republicans, including front-runner Donald Trump, distanced themselves from the decision.
Declaring that the decision was “outrageous and unacceptable,” Democratic President Joe Biden said that it was “a direct result of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.”
In 2022, the US Supreme Court, which is presided over by conservatives, reversed the historic ruling Roe v. Wade, which had safeguarded the country’s right to an abortion for fifty years. This allowed states to intervene in matters pertaining to the definition of personhood.
Following that, Alabama started enforcing its complete prohibition on abortions.
“IVF is a complex issue, no doubt, and I anticipate there will be more work to come,” Ivey said on Wednesday.
“From protecting the unborn to supporting IVF, Alabama is proud we are a pro-life, pro-family state.”
One of the institutions that stopped IVF procedures after the February verdict was the University of Alabama at Birmingham. On Wednesday, the institution said that it will “promptly” start up again and “continue to assess developments and advocate for protections for IVF patients and providers.”