Alabama Legislature Passes Bills Protecting IVF Providers

Two bills protecting IVF providers passed the Alabama House and Senate on Thursday—the latest development in a saga that began when the state’s Supreme Court declared that frozen embryos should be considered children under the law, forcing many providers to suspend service amid fears that they could be sued or prosecuted for causing the “death” of nonviable embryos that result from the normal course of treatment.

The Alabama state Senate passed bill SB159 which would “provide civil and criminal immunity for death or damage to an embryo to any individual or entity when providing or receiving goods or services related to in vitro fertilization.”

In the House, lawmakers passed HB237, filed by state Rep. Terri Collins, a Republican, which “would provide civil and criminal immunity to persons providing goods and services related to in vitro fertilization,” excluding intentional acts unrelated to IVF services. It passed by a vote of 94-6.

“This would at least keep the clinics open and the families moving forward,” Collins said of the measure.

Both chambers need to vote on a unified version of these measures, before it cane be sent to Governor Kay Ivey to be signed into law. Ivey is expected to approve the measure after speaking favorably of the legislature’s efforts earlier this week.

“The legislature is diligently working on addressing this issue as we speak, and I anticipate having a bill on my desk very shortly,” Ivey said Tuesday.

These are the first meaningful moves the state legislature has made to protect the popular fertility procedure, following the recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling.

Last week, Alabama’s Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office released a statement saying that the AG had “no intention” of pursuing legal action against families receiving IVF treatments, or their providers.

On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) tried to sink a bill protecting IVF for the entire nation, arguing that the law was filled with “poison pills.”