Montgomery, Alabama
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama lawmakers racing to restart in vitro fertilization services in the state began final debate Wednesday on legislation shielding providers from the fallout of a court ruling that equated frozen embryos to children.
“My goal is to get these clinics back open and women going through their treatment,” said Republican Sen. Tim Melson, the sponsor of the bill. The court ruled that three couples whose frozen embryos were destroyed when a hospital patient got into the storage unit at a fertility clinic and dropped the embryos could pursue wrongful death lawsuits for their “extrauterine children.” The ruling, treating an embryo the same as a child or gestating fetus under the wrongful death statute, raised concerns about civil liabilities for clinics. A fourth couple filed a similar wrongful death lawsuit last week.
Dr. Michael C. Allemand with Alabama Fertility said Tuesday that the legislative proposal would allow the clinic to resume IVF services by returning “us to a normal state of affairs in terms of what the liability issues are.”“There’s been some truly heart-wrenching conversations that have taken place,” Allemand said.
Republicans are also trying to navigate tricky political waters — torn between widespread popularity and support for IVF — and conflicts within their own party. Some Republicans have unsuccessfully sought to add Louisiana-style language to ban clinics from destroying unused or unwanted embryos.
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