Alabama Supreme Court has recently ruled Frozen embryos are legally protected children it means that fetuses should have the same rights as a person and now advocates for abortion rights are saying this ruling could have potentially broader implications all across the country the impact of Alabama's IVF ruling is our big story today a families doctors and other Advocates of invitro fertilization rallying today outside of the Alabama state house they're calling on lawmakers to listen to their con
cerns after the state Supreme Court ruled that Frozen EMP embos are children inside of the State House lawmakers are racing to push through legislation that would protect IVF providers from the legal liability imposed on them by the Court's decision some state legislators also saying they want to safeguard IVF when you walk in these doors you will have Advocates that you'll be speaking to there's no reason to be afraid we want to fix this as much as you do in our haste to make sure that we cover
ed the industry the doctors the suppliers and things like that we kind of have omitted the most important person in the process and that's the patient that is all you rally organizers say they also want those protections to extend to patience and families following the ruling at least three of Alabama's fertility clinics have halted certain IVF treatments in response State lawmakers have introduced a bill that says Frozen embryos are not considered an unborn child or human being the state's Heal
th and Human Services Secret AR went to Birmingham yesterday to meet with some healthcare workers and patients who are affected by the decision he says the conclusion that has followed the Alabama ruling is due to the US Supreme Court's decision on Row versus Wade it overturned a woman's Federal right to an abortion Jared Robbins the CEO of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine says there are concerns about some women being forced to go elsewhere for that treatment the clinics in Atlant
a that are gearing up to accept patients from Alabama and the clinics from Tennessee the that are gearing up to accept patients from Alabama one of the things that we're seeing is that so many of these clinics are already operating at capacity that um accepting these patients is actually they're worried about how are they going to be able to handle the volume and continue with patient safety the bill that's focused on protecting doctors and Clinics who provide invitro fertilization within the st
ate of Alabama is set to be voted on today and the Alabama Court decision spotlighted anti-abortion movement's long-standing goal of giving embryos and fetuses legal and constitutional protections on par with those of the women carrying them but abortion right Advocates see these proposals limit protections to both embryos and fetuses and potentially could have some broader implications row was so important because it established the Constitutional structure that protected Health Care access eve
rything we've heard today is about getting care if you can't access that because UAB has now stopped you can't access the care even if you may have some eggs or embryos there you can't access that bro would not have permitted this to occur lawmakers and at least six other states are proposing measures similar to a Georgia law that allows women to seek child support back to conception to cover expenses from a pregnancy Georgia also allows prospective parents to claim income tax deduction for depe
ndent children before birth the Democrats on Capitol Hill now pushing for federal IVF protection following the ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court 13 Action News Washington news Bureau correspondent Brenan cullerton spoke with the Biden Administration about law what lawmakers want to do multiple Alabama fertility clinics have already shut down IVF procedures in the wake of the state Supreme Court ruling Democrats say a federal law would bring the procedures back I was only able to get pregnant
through IVF as someone who became a mother through invitro fertilization senator Tammy Duckworth says an Alabama Supreme Court ruling takes that possibility away from families a ruling based on Extreme ideology rather than on medical science and one that throws IVF access into chaos for countless women as they and their doctors try to figure out whether they might be criminalized for simply trying to start a family the ruling has Clinics of of freezing embryos for the process because they can b
e held liable if one is destroyed Democratic Leadership immediately backed a bill that would ensure Federal Protection Democrats are absolutely committed to doing everything everything we can to protect women families reproductive Freedom when the Supreme Court overturned Row versus Wade it put a lot of reproductive Health in the hands of States some Republicans argue the issue should remain in Alabama I think the dos decis de ision clearly puts this issue back at the state level and we would en
courage the state legislature of Alabama to to write this wrong the Biden Administration says the president is working with lawmakers on the bill and fears other states could follow Alabama's lead what we really need and what the president has been very clear about since the day of the dobs decision is that Congress needs to pass a law restoring the protections of Row versus Wade the CDC estimates 2.3% of us births rely on assisted reproductive Tech technology the majority of those being IVF in
Washington I'm Brenan cullerton Alabama state supreme court is ruling and that ruling is Raising concerns in other states with some doctors in North Carolina now concerned more people could seek treatment in North Carolina if too many I IVF clinics in Alabama close however it's too early to tell whether that could spread Beyond Alabama's borders Carolina conceptions one IVF clinic located in North Carolina has 9,000 embryos stored inside of a fertility Clinic couples freeze extra embryos because
it usually takes one to three embryo transfers to get a baby if we are only allowed to fertilize one embryo at a time or be limited in how many embryos we create because there's concerns about having Frozen embryos it will have a massive impact on patients ability to have success with IVF Texas governor Greg Abbott is weighing in on Alabama Supreme Court decision he says he supports IVF however stopped short of calling for a law to protect access in Texas in Wisconsin fertility institutes are s
eeing more than 3,000 patients every month and now some of those clinics are worried about what Alabama's ruling could mean for them as well here's a reporter of Vana Co jkin speaking with those doctors it's really scary the phones have been ringing off the hook for Dr Elizabeth pritz the Alabama ruling came as a shock IVF is creating life and giving families children 20% of the US population suffers from infertility the Wisconsin fertility Institute sees over 3,000 patients every month accordin
g to Dr pritz I I don't know if you can tell I'm pretty emotional about it I'm I'm frightened for fertility care in the United States because of this but for president and medical director of the largest embryo adoption agency in the country the ruling was met with mixed emotions the national embryo donation center helps connect leftover embryos from IVF to other parents struggling to conceive are we you know really respect the the life and dignity of human embryos but deeming embryos as childre
n also means the stakes for prosecuting medical providers are higher if something goes wrong during IVF it just doesn't seem um a good idea to put people that are trying to help uh other people at risk for prosecution and according to the Ohio Capital Journal Ohioans some of them worried they will not be able to use fertility treatments in the same way after the state banned abortion another recent IVF ruling has concerns Rising again with some people worried about access to clinics the Center f
or Reproductive Rights says the barriers to access include limited information restrictive laws and policies stigma high cost and more right now there are about 16 IVF clinics across Ohio according to Forbes IVF clinics can cost anywhere between 12,000 to $114,000 for one cycle however that does not mean you'll pay that figure and then be done there are parts of the IVF process that most clinics treat as add-ons to the base fee that means depending on your needs a single IVF cycle can cost $30,0
00 or more and quite often a clinics based fee will cover monitoring appointments blood work egg retrieval and follow-up care and just a reminder you can watch the big story by downloading the 13 Action News app that is a free download in your phones App Store
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