Reply To: Alabama’s largest hospital says it is halting IVF treatments

A breakthrough !! Although they are going to have to explain the intrinsic contradiction.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) on Wednesday signed a bill to protect providers and patients doing in vitro fertilization from legal liability if embryos they create are damaged or destroyed, a move that comes weeks after a state Supreme Court ruling threatened the treatment’s use.

The bill, signed into law less than three weeks after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are people and individuals could be held liable for destroying them, gives criminal and civil immunity “for death or damage to an embryo” related to IVF. The unprecedented ruling alarmed medical professionals and reproductive rights advocates, who warned it would jeopardize IVF access in the state. Several Alabama providers halted IVF treatments within days of the decision.

Ivey has been vocal about protecting IVF, joining Republicans across the country who have defended the treatment, distancing themselves from the ruling. In a statement late Wednesday, Ivey applauded the state legislature for what she called a “stop-gap measure” that will allow fertility clinics that had closed after the ruling to reopen.

“Let me say clearly: Alabama supports growing families through IVF,” Ivey said. “From protecting the unborn to supporting IVF, Alabama is proud we are a pro-life, pro-family state.”