Alabama Gov Signs Law Protecting IVF After Landmark Ruling Declared Frozen Embryos ‘Children’

Kay Ivey

Republican Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill Wednesday evening that gives medical professionals who freeze embryos for fertility treatments immunity from criminal prosecution.

The bill was proposed by lawmakers in February after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos created during the process of in vitro fertilization (IVF) were “children” and multiple IVF clinics shut down as a result due to concerns about being prosecuted. Ivey announced that she had signed the bill in a statement released on X, formerly known as Twitter.

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Alabama’s Largest Hospital Pauses IVF Treatments After Ruling Classifying Frozen Embryos as Children

UAB Hospital

Alabama’s largest hospital paused in vitro fertilization treatments to help women get pregnant following concerns about potential prosecution of patients and health care providers after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled this week that frozen embryos are children. 

“We are saddened that this will impact our patients’ attempt to have a baby through I.V.F., but 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 I.V.F. treatments,” the University of Alabama at Birmingham health system said Wednesday, according to The New York Times.

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