Bills aimed at restarting Alabama IVF programs in position for final votes

A lab tech uses equipment employed for in vitro fertilization in this undated photo. The Alabama Supreme Court on Friday ruled that embryos created in the process could be considered people and that destruction of frozen embryos could expose a person to civil damages. (Getty Images)

Two bills aimed at restarting in vitro fertilization (IVF)  services in Alabama won approval from legislative committees on Tuesday, setting up final votes on the measures as early as Wednesday.

HB 237 , sponsored by Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, passed the Senate Healthcare committee on a 7-1 vote, with two abstentions. Sen. Larry Stutts, R-Tuscumbia, voted against the bill after it was amended to provide immunity to manufacturers of goods involved in IVF treatment.

SB 159 , sponsored by Rep. Tim Melson, R-Florence,  approved the House Health committee on a voice vote. Both bills passed their chambers of origin on Thursday .

“I think the goal of this bill is to accomplish providing a better sense of security for those providers, those clinics that have been working with these families in in vitro fertilization process,” Collins said after the committee meeting to reporters.

IVF programs in Alabama have been paused since a Feb. 16 Alabama Supreme Court decision that declared frozen embryos children. The court said parents could collect damages for their destruction under an 1872 state law.

The legislation are moving concurrently, which allows the bill to be passed in five legislative days, the minimum number it takes to pass bills.

Each committee amended the legislation to provide criminal but not civil immunity to manufacturers of goods involved in IVF treatment if embryos are destroyed. If found liable, manufacturers of goods would have to pay for damages, determined by the price the family paid for the fertilization treatment.

Bills aimed at protecting IVF advance in Alabama Legislature

Stutts, who voted against the bill in the Senate committee, said that he was against putting a limit on the amount of damages to the cost of the treatment. He said that’s “assigning a value to the life of an embryo.” He said that IVF is a lengthy treatment, and for people getting older who may not be able to carry a pregnancy, it wouldn’t make sense to pay for another round of treatment.

“To just simply say, we’re going to come and well, ‘I know we hate we lost all your embryos, we’re going to pay for having another cycle.’ Well, another cycle might not be an option for them,” Stutts said.

Speaking after the Senate Healthcare committee meeting, Dr. Michael Allemand, a physician at Alabama Fertility, one of the clinics that stopped IVF services after the state Supreme Court ruling, said that he understands Stutts’ concern.

“As far as we understand, all of this just returns us to a normal state of affairs where we’re under normal medical legal liability like we are every day,” Allemand said.

Michelle Allen, an IVF patient from Auburn, came to watch the bill in the Senate committee. She said it’s important to keep patients visible throughout the process.

Allen, 32, said she wants to have a child sooner rather than later. She said it’s not about a “biological clock” but rather about concerns of what life will look like if she has a child too late. Her current solution is to get treatment in Georgia.

“We’re not here to talk to anybody or anything. Just — we’re here. We care about this. We hope that [legislators] care about it as much as we do,” Allen said.

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