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The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that frozen embryos are unborn children. That creates some potentially messy legal issues surrounding whether embryos that aren’t used for IVF procedures can be destroyed. Because of that, fertility clinics throughout the state stopped offering these treatments, putting them on hold until the legality around how embryos are handled is decided.

Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth and many of her colleagues are using this as a way to push back against the changes Republicans are trying to make to women’s rights, especially when it comes to reproduction. She has already introduced a bill that would offer national protection for IVF, so laws like the one in Alabama wouldn’t mean clinics would have to stop their treatments.

Ruling that an embryo is a person, argues Duckworth, stops women from having proper access to fertility treatments that can help them start or expand their families. She has personal experience with fertility treatments, as do many women throughout the country. Not being able to access this treatment can be devastating for women who can’t become pregnant naturally or who have trouble conceiving.

The Supreme Court’s ruling doesn’t explicitly outlaw IVF but does say that destroying embryos could be prosecuted as wrongful death. While the attorney general for Alabama has publicly said he isn’t going to go after providers or families, doctors and clinics aren’t willing to take him at his word. The actual law is what they’re focusing on, and the threat of potential prosecution is too strong for them to simply ignore.

There are some Republicans in Alabama now creating a law to protect IVF specifically, but Duckworth doesn’t think they’re doing it for the right reason. Instead, she says, they’re just covering themselves by trying to control as many aspects of women’s healthcare as possible. She wants to see full reproductive rights for women in the state and across the country, not just a few rights that Republicans and lawmakers agree are acceptable. It’s likely this issue will go on for some time, and much more than just Alabama will be affected by the ultimate outcome.

To learn more about The Surrogacy Law Center and how we can help protect you and your rights on your assisted reproduction journey, contact us today!