On Wednesday, an IVF clinic in Alabama became the first fertility clinic to halt services after the state’s Supreme Court ruled on Friday thatthat UAB is “saddened” for their patients who struggle with infertility and can no longer look to their IVF services at this time.
“We must evaluate the potential that our patients and our physicians could be prosecuted criminally or face punitive damages for following the standard of care for IVF treatments,” Hannah Echols. In a statement e-mailed to Jezebel, Echols wrote: “We want to reiterate that it is IVF treatment that is paused. Everything through egg retrieval remains in place. Egg fertilization and embryo development is paused.
Friday’s ruling says the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act “applies to all unborn children, regardless of their location,” and cited Section 36.06 in the Alabama Constitution, which says that “even before birth, all human beings bear the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing his glory.” It also references Alabama Supreme Court rulings from 2012 and 2013, whichapplied to unborn fetuses.
Legal experts have since warned that if the destruction of embryos—which is standard practice for IVF—is “wrongful death,” then IVF itself is jeopardized. In September, the Medical Association of the State of Alabamawarning that “the potential detrimental impact on IVF treatment in Alabama cannot be overstated.
“The increased exposure to wrongful death liability as advocated by the Appellants would—at best—substantially increase the costs associated with IVF,” the brief said. “More ominously, the increased risk of legal exposure might result in Alabama’s fertility clinics shutting down and fertility specialists moving to other states to practice fertility medicine.