Second Alabama Fertility Clinic Stops In Vitro Fertilization After Embryo Ruling—Here’s What We Know
Alabama Fertility Specialists in Birmingham is pausing in vitro fertilization treatments in light of the state Supreme Court’s ruling that frozen embryos are children, making it the second known clinic in the state to do so.
In a statement posted to its Facebook page, the clinic announced it was pausing IVF treatments due to the “legal risk to our clinic and our embryologists.”
Affected patients will be notified by the clinic Thursday, which is also working to notify legislators about “the far reaching negative impact of this ruling” on the state’s patients.
The system has three locations in the state, and it is not clear if the locations in Huntsville and Montgomery are also pausing IVF treatments.
Alabama Fertility Specialists did not immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment.
On Wednesday, the University of Alabama at Birmingham health system became the first fertility clinic in the state to pause such treatments.
“AFS will not close,” the clinic said on Facebook. “We will continue to fight for our patients and the families of Alabama.”
It’s unclear whether other fertility clinics in the state will follow suit. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists eight clinics on its website that use assisted reproductive technology. Forbes reached out to several of the clinics—the Alabama Center for Reproductive Medicine, Huntsville Reproductive Medicine, Fertility Institute of North Alabama, Center for Reproductive Medicine and Innovative Fertility Specialists—though they did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Justice Greg Cook was the sole judge on the all-Republican court to dissent, according to the ruling. Cook wrote that “many Alabama citizens praying to be parents” would lose the opportunity with the ruling and “there is no doubt that there will be fewer babies born.”
In IVF procedures, eggs are extracted and fertilized outside of a patient’s body to create embryos that can be placed back in the uterus. Embryos that are not used for implantation are discarded. The Alabama Supreme Court ruled Friday that frozen embryos are children—a ruling based on lawsuits from three couples alleging wrongful death of a minor over the accidental destruction of frozen embryos at a fertility clinic in the state. The ruling allows families to sue if frozen embryos are discarded or damaged under the state’s Wrongful Death of Minor Act. While it does not ban the procedure entirely, the ruling has called the future of the treatment in the state into question.
Alabama Hospital Stops In Vitro Fertilization After Court Rules Embryos Are Children (Forbes)
Warnings of the impact of fertility treatments in Alabama rush in after frozen embryo ruling (Associated Press)
IVF supporters are 'freaking out' over Alabama court decision treating embryos as children (USA Today)