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Alabama IVF providers pause programs in wake of court ruling

A second in vitro fertilization provider in Alabama is pausing services after the state Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are legally considered children. They are evaluating whether patients or doctors could face criminal charges or punitive damages.

First Look

A second in vitro fertilization provider in Alabama is pausing parts of its care to patients after the state Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are legally considered children.

Alabama Fertility Services said in a statement Thursday that has 鈥渕ade the impossibly difficult decision to hold new IVF treatments due to the legal risk to our clinic and our embryologists.鈥�

The decision comes a day after the University of Alabama at Birmingham health system said in a statement that it was pausing IVF treatments so it could evaluate whether its patients or doctors could face criminal charges or punitive damages.

鈥淲e are contacting patients that will be affected today to find solutions for them and we are working as hard as we can to alert our legislators as to the far-reaching negative impact of this ruling on the women of Alabama,鈥� Alabama Fertility said. 鈥淎FS will not close. We will continue to fight for our patients and the families of Alabama.鈥�

Doctors and patients have been grappling with shock and fear this week as they try to determine what they can and can鈥檛 do after the ruling by the all-Republican Alabama Supreme Court that raises questions about the future of IVF.

Alabama Fertility Services鈥� decision left Gabby Goidel, who was days from an expected egg retrieval, calling clinics across the South looking for a place to continue IVF care.

鈥淚 freaked out. I started crying. I felt in an extreme limbo state. They did not have all the answers. I did not obviously any answers,鈥� Ms. Goidel said.

The Alabama ruling came down Friday, the same day Ms. Goidel began a 10-day series of injections ahead of egg retrieval, with the hopes of getting pregnant through IVF next month. She found a place in Texas that will continue her care and plans to travel there Thursday night.

Ms. Goidel experienced three miscarriages and she and her husband turned to IVF as a way of fulfilling their dream of becoming parents.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not pro-family in any way,鈥� Ms. Goidel said of the Alabama ruling.

Dr. Michael C. Allemand, a reproductive endocrinologist at Alabama Fertility, said Wednesday that IVF is often the best treatment for patients who desperately want a child, and the ruling threatens doctors鈥� ability to provide that care.

鈥淭he moments that our patients are wanting to have by growing their families 鈥� Christmas mornings with grandparents, kindergarten, going in the first day of school, with little backpacks 鈥� all that stuff is what this is about. Those are the real moments that this ruling could deprive patients of,鈥� he said.

Justices 鈥� citing language in the Alabama Constitution that the state recognizes the 鈥渞ights of the unborn child鈥� 鈥� said three couples could sue for wrongful death when their frozen embryos were destroyed in an accident at a storage facility.

鈥淯nborn children are 鈥榗hildren鈥� ... without exception based on developmental stage, physical location, or any other ancillary characteristics,鈥� Justice Jay Mitchell wrote in the Feb. 16 majority ruling. Mr. Mitchell said the court had previously ruled that a fetus killed when a woman is pregnant is covered under Alabama鈥檚 Wrongful Death of a Minor Act and nothing excludes 鈥渆xtrauterine children from the Act鈥檚 coverage.鈥�

While the court case centered on whether embryos were covered under the wrongful death of a minor statute, some said treating the embryo as a child 鈥� rather than property 鈥� could have broader implications and call into question many of the practices of IVF.

This story was reported by The Associated Press.