United States: Alabama lawmakers are taking a fast-track approach to approving measures protecting in vitro fertilization clinics from lawsuits.
It is to be done in response to the uproar created last month after the state Supreme Court ruling.
Alabama lawmakers are moving fast this week to approve measures preventing in vitro fertilization clinics from lawsuits in reaction to a recent furor sparked up a month ago when the Alabama Supreme Court ruled in a ruling that frozen embryos have the rights of children after being declared as a human, as ABC News reported.
Gov. Kay Ivey, who is Republican, is likely to sign one of the two bills to convert it into law.
Bills giving legal protection to fertility clinics
If either of the bills passes, fertility clinics, at least three of which are currently paused after the court ruling to evaluate their new level of risk, will have legal cover.
The legislatures in both the Senate and the House are simultaneously moving ahead with identical bills whose aim is to exempt IVF providers as well as their employees from any civil lawsuits as well as prosecutions in criminal cases due to the destruction or unintentional damage to an embryo resulting from their activities.
While the law protects medical providers, there were revisions on Tuesday, and one was regarding the mortal remains of the embryo, which can be sued against companies that make the equipment used in IVF if the equipment hurts or destroys the embryo.
If either one of these measures were adopted by law, it would immediately come into force, would be applicable to any damage or destruction that has happened before, and would not be the subject of any legal cases, as ABC News reported.
Lawmakers affirm that this has been the IVF providers’ position, giving them the confidence to resume their services.
The bill does not mention embryos’ implantation or whether they can be legally called the children outside the body.
About the February ruling filed by couples
In February, the Alabama Supreme Court made a decision to allow wrongful death lawsuits brought by couples whose embryos were accidentally destroyed at a fertility clinic.
According to ABC News, the Court stated in its ruling that the wrongful death law applies to “all unborn children, regardless of their location.” The Court cited an anti-abortion provision added to the state constitution in 2018 that protects the “rights of unborn children.”
Some are not happy with the approach
American Society for Reproductive Medicine, a society representing IVF providers countrywide, has called the legislation short of what is wanted, pointing out that it does not reverse the court ruling identifying those who have been fertilized as children.
To be more precise, one legislator argued to stretch the House bill to make it illegal for the clinics to discard embryos when they weren’t medically needed, but the amendment was turned down.
Role of Alabama Court’s ruling
The Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling on this case is undoubtedly precedence-setting since it is the first instance that medical researchers have investigated the legality of IVF procedures in the United States out of the locations where Roe v. Wade was overturned and where local laws ended the right to abortion on a nationwide basis in 2022.
In vitro fertilization is indeed the most common point that pro-life supporters share with their pro-choice counterparts. Simply speaking, it should be allowed for people to be in pursuit of what they think the legal rights of embryos and fetuses to be, which is one step towards the way of outlawing abortion, ABC News reported.
Alabama is among 14 States to join the list of states that have started completely banning pregnancies irrespective of the termination time that continued in the past two years.
Republicans in the legislature are pushing for both bills in a state where politics is under the Democrats.
These policies not only have overwhelming backing from politicians but also receive immense support from lawmakers.
Hence, the House version was endorsed by a majority, 94-6 last week, and the Senate version passed it quite easily, 32-0.
Mixed support for the move garnered across the country
Donald Trump, the former president, seeking a comeback into the White House last week, said he would “strongly support the availability of IVF.”
According to ABC News reports, Alabama’s House speaker, Nathaniel Ledbetter, considering it a priority, stated, “Alabamians strongly believe in protecting the rights of the unborn, but the result of the State Supreme Court ruling denies many couples the opportunity to conceive, which is a direct contradiction.”