©Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Supporters of legislation safeguarding in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments hold a rally at the Alabama State House in Montgomery, Alabama, U.S., February 28, 2024. REUTERS/Julie Bennett/File Photo
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(Reuters) – Alabama’s Republican-led House voted on Thursday in favor of a bill aimed at protecting the in vitro fertilization industry after the state Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos should be considered children, prompting at least three Alabama providers to stop the fertility procedure.
An identical bill introduced by a Republican senator awaits a vote in the Senate, which is also controlled by Republicans and could take up the measure on Thursday.
If passed by both houses and enacted, the legislation would protect IVF providers from both criminal charges and civil suits.
The Alabama Supreme Court’s Feb. 16 ruling did not clarify how to legally store, transport and use embryos, and some IVF patients have sought to transfer their frozen embryos out of Alabama.
Republicans nationwide have scrambled to contain the backlash from the decision by the Alabama Supreme Court, whose elected justices are all Republicans. Democrats seized on it as further evidence that reproductive rights are under attack.
In vitro fertilization, or in vitro fertilization, involves combining eggs and sperm in a laboratory dish to create an embryo for couples who have difficulty conceiving.