An Alabama fertility clinic that paused in vitro fertilization services last month expects to resume them now that state lawmakers have passed a bill to protect doctors and clinics that discard embryos as part of routine IVF services.
The bill “provides the protections that we need to start care — or resume care, really,” said Dr. Janet Bouknight, an IVF provider at Alabama Fertility, which suspended IVF services Feb. 22 after the state Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are considered unborn children.
Bouknight said the clinic does around 10 egg retrievals and 10 frozen embryo transfers per week, so around 40 patients may not have received promised care during this pause in IVF services.
Following the court ruling Feb. 16, IVF providers were concerned that they could face legal repercussions for getting rid of embryos — a common part of IVF, because some embryos have genetic abnormalities or are no longer needed. That prompted three Alabama clinics, including Alabama Fertility, to suspend IVF services.
Since then, Alabama legislators from both parties have called for legal safeguards to protect IVF providers in the state.
A bill that passed Wednesday evening offers civil and criminal “immunity” to doctors, clinics and other health care personnel who provide IVF.
Gov. Kay Ivey is expected to sign it into law imminently.
The bill states that “no action, suit, or criminal prosecution for the damage to or death of an embryo shall be brought or maintained against any individual or entity when providing or receiving services related to in vitro fertilization.”
However, it does not specify whether frozen embryos created via IVF have the same rights as children under state law. For that reason, some legal experts worry the bill doesn’t go far enough.
The bill’s Republican sponsors characterized the legislation as a quick fix to allow IVF clinics to resume normal operations.
Bouknight said Alabama legislators “understand the pressing need to get this fixed, and to have a lasting solution.”
The bill could also make companies that store and ship embryos more comfortable to operate in Alabama. At least one major embryo shipping company, Cryoport, paused operations there after the court decision. The company did not respond to an inquiry about whether it will resuming services in Alabama.
Brad Senstra, the CEO of ReproTech — a company that offers long-term storage for embryos — said the company was in talks with Alabama clinics about helping them with embryo storage before the ruling. After the state Supreme Court decision, he said, the company restricted employees from picking up embryo shipments in person from Alabama clinics.
Senstra said he feels comfortable lifting that restriction now, since the bill seems to cover storage services.
“Handling of embryos and storing them for patients is definitely providing services related to in vitro fertilization,” he said.
Meghan Cole, a patient at Alabama Fertility, was planning to start a family via a surrogate because she has a blood disorder that prevents her from safely carrying a pregnancy. But the planned embryo transfer procedure was canceled after the clinic paused its IVF services.
Now that the clinic intends to start offering IVF again, Cole said, she wants to move forward with the transfer.
The last few weeks have been “a roller coaster of emotions,” she said, “from being completely devastated to having hope and now being excited to continue the journey.”
But Cole worries about what might happen in Alabama in the future.
“While this is a win for us right now and a Bandaid to get us back on track, we’re still planning to move our embryos out of the state,” she said. “I don’t trust what the state’s going to do and don’t want to have to either keep my embryos in storage in perpetuity, or not be allowed to discard them.”
Adam Edelman and Alexandra Chaidez contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
