The governor of the American state of Alabama on Wednesday promulgated a law protecting people benefiting from or undertaking in vitro fertilization (IVF), after a legal decision equating frozen embryos to children and deemed “scandalous” by the president Joe Biden.
“I signed SB159, the IVF protection law, after it received overwhelming support from elected officials in Alabama” (south), Republican Governor Kay Ivey said in a statement published on the social network
The text grants “civil and criminal immunity for the death or damage of an embryo to any individual or entity providing or benefiting from services related to in vitro fertilization”.
In mid-February, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos obtained by in vitro fertilization are children in their own right under state law, and that their destruction can therefore result in legal action.
As a direct result, several clinics specializing in medically assisted procreation in this state then announced that they were interrupting their IVF activities.
The affair took on a national dimension. Many Republicans, including presidential primary candidate Donald Trump, have distanced themselves from the decision of Alabama’s highest court.
Democratic President Joe Biden described the ruling of the local Supreme Court as “scandalous and unacceptable”, seeing it as “the direct result of the overturning of Roe v. Wade. This 1973 ruling established the right to abortion before its annulment, almost two years ago, by the conservative majority Supreme Court of the United States.
Alabama subsequently enforced its abortion ban, providing no exceptions.
“IVF is a complex issue, without question, and I anticipate there will be more work” on the issue, Ms. Ivey said Wednesday.
The University of Alabama at Birminghan, one of the health institutions that halted in vitro fertilization procedures after the February decision, said Wednesday that it would “rapidly” resume its activities in this area and “continue to (…) advocate for protections for patients” and staff responsible for IVF.
