Skip to content Skip to search

Republish This Story

* Please read before republishing *

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines, which require that you credit The 19th and retain our pixel. See our full guidelines for more information.

To republish, simply copy the HTML at right, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to The 19th. Have questions? Please email [email protected].

— The Editors

Loading...

Modal Gallery

/
Donate to our newsroom

Menu

Topics

  • Abortion
  • Politics
  • Education
  • LGBTQ+
  • Caregiving
  • Environment & Climate
  • Business & Economy
View all topics

The 19th News(letter)

News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday.

You have been subscribed!

Please complete the following CAPTCHA to be confirmed. If you have any difficulty, contact [email protected] for help.

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please email [email protected] to subscribe.

This email address might not be capable of receiving emails (according to Bouncer). You should try again with a different email address. If you have any questions, contact us at [email protected].

  • Latest Stories
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Ways to Give
  • Search
  • Contact
Donate
Home

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.

Topics

  • Abortion
  • Politics
  • Education
  • LGBTQ+
  • Caregiving
  • Environment & Climate
  • Business & Economy
View all topics

The 19th News(letter)

News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday.

You have been subscribed!

Please complete the following CAPTCHA to be confirmed. If you have any difficulty, contact [email protected] for help.

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please email [email protected] to subscribe.

This email address might not be capable of receiving emails (according to Bouncer). You should try again with a different email address. If you have any questions, contact us at [email protected].

  • Latest Stories
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Ways to Give
  • Search
  • Contact

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.

The 19th News(letter)

News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday.

You have been subscribed!

Please complete the following CAPTCHA to be confirmed. If you have any difficulty, contact [email protected] for help.

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please email [email protected] to subscribe.

This email address might not be capable of receiving emails (according to Bouncer). You should try again with a different email address. If you have any questions, contact us at [email protected].

Become a member

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

Health

Alabama passes law to protect access to IVF treatments

IVF services in the state have been paused since a Feb. 16 Alabama Supreme Court decision that declared frozen embryos children.

Sarah Brown, a Birmingham resident and in vitro fertilization patient, holds a sign at the Alabama Statehouse on Feb. 28, 2024
Sarah Brown, a Birmingham resident and in vitro fertilization patient, holds a sign saying “I’m Here Because of IVF” at the Alabama Statehouse on Feb. 28, 2024 in Montgomery, Alabama. Supporters of bills aiming to protect IVF access held a rally ahead of committee hearings on the legislation. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)

Alander Rocha, Alabama Reflector

Published

2024-03-07 07:45
7:45
March 7, 2024
am

Republish this story

Share

  • Bluesky
  • Facebook
  • Email

Republish this story

Gov. Kay Ivey signed the bill aimed at restarting in vitro fertilization (IVF) services in Alabama into law after the Legislature gave final approval Wednesday night.

SB 159, sponsored by Sen. Tim Melson, R-Florence, which provides criminal and civil immunity to providers and patients of IVF services, passed the House 81-12.

The Senate concurred on House changes to the bill on Wednesday evening on a 29-1 vote.

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

“I truly hope and believe that the clinics will open back, that this is going to provide the immunity that they need to continue doing the process with these families,” said Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, who carried the bill in the House, after the bill’s passage.

Collins sponsored Alabama’s near-total abortion ban in 2019.

IVF programs in Alabama have been paused since a Feb. 16 Alabama Supreme Court decision that declared frozen embryos children. The court, ruling on a lawsuit over the destruction of frozen embryos by an unauthorized person in a Mobile clinic in 2020, said parents in the suit could collect damages under an 1872 state law allowing civil actions for the deaths of children. Several IVF programs closed in the days following the decision, citing the legal risks to patients and providers.

  • Read Next:
    Computer image of an egg being inseminated through IVF.
  • Read Next: The 19th Explains: Will states follow Alabama in ending IVF access?

The decision led to widespread criticism; drew hundreds of people to Montgomery for a Feb. 28 protest and left Republican lawmakers scrambling to restart the programs.

The legislation was amended in committee to also provide criminal but not civil immunity to manufacturers of goods involved in IVF treatment if embryos are destroyed. If found liable, manufacturers of goods would have to pay for damages, determined by the price the family paid for the fertilization treatment.

The court also based its decision on a 2018 “Sanctity of Life” amendment to the Alabama Constitution, passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature in 2017 and approved by voters in 2018. The amendment says that “it is the public policy of this state to recognize and support the sanctity of unborn life and the rights of unborn children, including the right to life.”

Democrats have argued that the court’s reliance on the 2018 measure means that the situation can only be addressed by another constitutional amendment. House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville, filed an amendment to do that on Feb. 27, co-sponsored by all 28 Democratic House members. The bill has not come up for a committee vote.

Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, speaks during a debate at the Alabama Statehouse.
Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, speaks during a debate on a bill aimed at preserving in vitro fertilization services in Alabama in the Alabama House of Representatives at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama on Feb. 29, 2024. The House approved a bill providing criminal and civil immunity to IVF providers, following an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that caused many programs to close their doors. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)

Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, said during debate on Wednesday “this is a really bad piece of legislation, across the board,” because they are legislating issues that lawyers are “paid to spot in terms of filing lawsuits.”

A second wrongful death of a minor lawsuit was filed last week against the Mobile clinic at the center of the Supreme Court decision. England said the purpose of that lawsuit is to challenge the immunity that the Legislature is creating for IVF providers. He said the Legislature was creating more problems.

“Our legislation here provides a clear pathway for doctors in those facilities to destroy embryos,” he said. “If I’m not mistaken, (and) you go back and you read the constitutional amendment, it says that we can’t do that. We can’t.”

Rep. Phillip Ensler, D-Montgomery, called the legislation a “Band-Aid fix” and that he’s concerned the Legislature will have to come up with another solution if someone successfully challenges the statute.

“Are we going to be back in the same exact place? So, I hope moving forward, instead of just the statutory, temporary fix, that we look at the big picture, that we never have to do this again,” Ensler said.

  • Previous Coverage:
    Doctors around a woman during a fertility treatment in a clinic.
  • Previous Coverage: Alabama Supreme Court rules that frozen embryos outside the womb are children

At a press conference called by the House Republican Caucus after the bill’s passage, Collins said that those kinds of solutions are “a longer conversation than we can have in the five days.”

“What we’re going to have to do is just see what happens as we move forward,” Collins said.

Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, said she was concerned that the Legislature is creating a “special class of doctors” that are immune from damages that other doctors won’t have.

“I think this is a very dangerous bill for us to be adapting just for the urgency of the situation,” Givan said.

Sen. Larry Stutts, R- Tuscumbia, voiced his opposition before the Senate concurred. He said that the Legislature is setting a “dangerous precedent” by assigning a value to a life,” in reference to providing partial immunity to manufacturers of goods.

“I think it is a path that we absolutely should not have gone down. And we may say we’re so far down and now we can’t turn around and go back,” Stutts said.

Some Democratic House members suggested the Legislature is acting with urgency because the Supreme Court ruling is largely affecting people who can afford to pay for the expensive fertility treatment.

England, citing unequal access to reproductive care in the state, said he doesn’t want to create a situation where the Legislature “creates the haves and the have nots.”

  • Read Next:
    Stephanie Perry fights back tears as she shares her story to Secretary of U.S. Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra
  • Read Next: ‘Gut punch after gut punch’: In Alabama, IVF patients speak out

“Because essentially, if you are rich, and you have the resources, you can do things that IVF clinics that poor people can’t do in an abortion clinic,” England said.

Rep. Patrick Sellers, D-Birmingham, said he’s not opposed to IVF, but he does have issues with it in Alabama if the state chooses to define life at “conception.” He asked what happens to embryos that are not used and compared it to an abortion.

“I’m just a little confused at this whole process because it seems on one hand, we’re being quite hypocritical, but on the other hand, it’s okay, if you can afford (it),” Sellers said.

House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, said in the press conference after the bill’s passage that the legislation “was probably as much of a pro-life piece of legislation that we’ve ever passed.”

Rep. Paul Lee, R-Dothan, chair of the House Health committee, said that they had no idea what they would be dealing with the issue three weeks ago, and treated this as a priority by putting everything else on hold.

“Our goal was to make sure that the families could continue the process, because life to us is that important, and we wanted to make sure it happened as quickly as we could,” Lee said.

Alabama Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alabama Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Brian Lyman for questions: [email protected]. Follow Alabama Reflector on Facebook and Twitter.

Republish this story

Share

  • Bluesky
  • Facebook
  • Email

Recommended for you

Travis Smith, running for Utah House District 42, talks about his campaign alongside his wife Tillia and their daughter Margot, 7.
IVF is popular in pro-family Utah. Why aren’t candidates talking about it?
Stephanie Perry fights back tears as she shares her story to Secretary of U.S. Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra
‘Gut punch after gut punch’: In Alabama, IVF patients speak out
An embryologist works on freezing embryos inside a lab at a fertility center.
The federal government will now offer its employees generous fertility benefits
Senator Tammy Duckworth speaks during a press conference with other Senate Democrats.
Senate Democrats challenge Republicans with Wednesday vote to protect IVF

The 19th News(letter)

News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday.

You have been subscribed!

Please complete the following CAPTCHA to be confirmed. If you have any difficulty, contact [email protected] for help.

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please email [email protected] to subscribe.

This email address might not be capable of receiving emails (according to Bouncer). You should try again with a different email address. If you have any questions, contact us at [email protected].

Become a member

Explore more coverage from The 19th
Abortion Politics Education LGBTQ+ Caregiving
View all topics

Our newsroom's Spring Member Drive is here!

Learn more about membership.

  • Transparency
    • About
    • Team
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Community Guidelines
  • Newsroom
    • Latest Stories
    • 19th News Network
    • Podcast
    • Events
    • Careers
    • Fellowships
  • Newsletters
    • Daily
    • Weekly
    • The Amendment
    • Event Invites
  • Support
    • Ways to Give
    • Sponsorship
    • Republishing
    • Volunteer

The 19th is a reader-supported nonprofit news organization. Our stories are free to republish with these guidelines.