Alabama enacts protections for IVF doctors after court rules embryos are children

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey swiftly signed legislation on Wednesday passed by the state's GOP-controlled legislature giving physicians who provide in vitro fertilization civil and criminal immunity for any death or damage to embryos.

The legislature’s vote and Ivey's signature come nearly three weeks after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are children, leading three fertility clinics in the state to pause IVF services and setting off a national debate among Republicans over whether where life begins matters just as much as when — and if so, what to do about it.

Ivey, a Republican, said in a statement that she was "pleased" to sign the measure into law in an effort to help clinics reopen but couched it as a "short-term" fix.

"IVF is a complex issue, no doubt, and I anticipate there will be more work to come, but right now, I am confident that this legislation will provide the assurances our IVF clinics need and will lead them to resume services immediately," Ivey said.

The discussions on the ground in Alabama underscore the challenging position Republicans are in as they head into the 2024 election — and the increasing friction between rank-and-file GOP lawmakers and anti-abortion groups. Conservatives, already struggling to win the messaging wars on abortion, now find themselves torn between constituents who are largely supportive of IVF and an anti-abortion movement that would like to see significant changes to the way it is performed in the U.S., which could limit access to the procedure.

Democrats, including President Joe Biden, have used the Alabama high court’s ruling to highlight some of the broader consequences of the conservative view that life begins at conception, including for fertility care, emergency medicine and contraception. And they plan to continue doing that at Thursday night’s State of the Union address, with several Democratic lawmakers inviting fertility doctors and patients — including Elizabeth Carr, the first person in the United States born via IVF — as their guests to the address.

Recent CBS News/YouGov polling found that an overwhelming majority of people support IVF, with 86 percent saying the procedure should be legal.

A coalition of anti-abortion groups — including Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Students for Life and Live Action — urged Ivey to veto the legislation, which they said in a letter would “leave a trail of destructive, immoral implications in its wake” and urged lawmakers to “slow down and study the ethical implications of this highly complex topic.”

“Any political determination that takes up the question of how we treat and protect human lives — no matter how young — must resist an ideology that treats human beings as expendable commodities,” the groups wrote. “Any legislation on this issue must take into consideration the millions of human lives who face the fate of either being discarded or frozen indefinitely, violating the inherent dignity they possess by virtue of being human.”

American Action Fund, a project of the conservative student group Young Americans for Liberty, has in recent days targeted Alabama GOP lawmakers in Facebook ads with imagery of blood and babies, saying that they voted to give immunity to any IVF provider “who intentionally causes the death of an unborn child.”

Despite these criticisms, Ivey maintained that Alabama remains "a pro-life, pro-family state."

"In the coming days, weeks and months, particularly as we are in the heat of a national election, we will hear a lot of political rhetoric around IVF," Ivey said. "Let me say clearly: Alabama supports growing families through IVF."

National reproductive medicine advocates, such as the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, are also dissatisfied with the legislation, which they believe doesn’t go far enough because it leaves state laws giving personhood rights to embryos and fetuses intact while carving out protections for doctors that will allow IVF to continue. Democrats on the House floor Wednesday evening echoed some of those concerns.

“I’m just going to be honest with you. I 100 percent support IVF treatment, and it's unfortunate what has happened,” said state Rep. Chris England. “But this is a really bad piece of legislation across the board.”

Legislators have said they intend to pursue a more thorough review of state law to determine whether additional legislation is needed on the issue.

“I believe we have worked together to come up with a plan that will allow these families to continue their in vitro fertilization process,” said state Rep. Terri Collins, a Republican who sponsored the House version of the bill. “We believe the clinics will open with this legislation. We believe that we have met in a good spot that will help them feel comfortable to open up and provide their services.”