Bills aimed at protecting IVF advance in Alabama Legislature

Carrie McNair of Mobile holds a sign saying "You can't cuddle an embryo" at a rally in support of in vitro fertilization access at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama on Feb. 28, 2024. The rally took place before scheduled committee hearings in the Alabama Legislature on legislation to protect IVF. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)

Three bills aimed at protecting in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures in Alabama moved out of House and Senate committees Wednesday as IVF patients and advocates held a rally to protect the procedure.

IVF programs in Alabama have been put on hold after a Feb. 16 Alabama Supreme Court decision that declared frozen embryos children and said parents could collect damages for their destruction under an 1872 state law.

Jamie Heard from Birmingham, one of hundreds of people who attended Wednesday’s rally at the Alabama Statehouse, gave birth to her first child through IVF in 2022.

The first time around was difficult. She said she and her husband took a year off work because of the time and emotional intensive process, but after a successful treatment, she said it “literally felt like our dreams were made and it’s been the most amazing thing ever.”

Heard planned to have a second child, and began the initial testing process for IVF treatment on Valentine’s Day. That’s now on pause.

“It really hits home the fact that we were literally about to start our second cycle, and it got canceled, and the emotions feels like I’m grieving a loved one almost, so it’s heartbreaking,” she said.

Legislative movement

A crowd at the Alabama Statehouse listens to Corrin O’Brien of the Fight for Alabama Families Coalition speaker during a rally for protections for in vitro fertilization on Feb. 28, 2024 in Montgomery, Alabama. The rally took place prior to scheduled committee hearings in the Alabama Legislature on legislation to protect the procedure. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)

SB 160, sponsored by Sen. Larry Stutts, R-Tuscumbia, would provide civil and criminal immunity to providers related to IVF if providers follow commonly accepted practices of care.

“I don’t think we need to make it any more broad than that,” Stutts said in introducing the bill. “We simply need to say what you’ve been doing is working, and if you were doing it before a couple of weeks ago, and you can start back doing it now because we’re going to protect you from that civil and criminal liability.”

Sen. Tim Melson, R-Florence (right) speaks to a rally for IVF legislation with Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur on Feb. 28, 2024 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. Supporters of bills aiming to protect IVF access held a rally Wednesday ahead of committee hearings on the legislation. Melson and Collins have both sponsored legislation. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)

SB 159, sponsored by Sen. Tim Melson, R-Florence, would provide civil and criminal immunity for “death or damage to an embryo” to any person or entity providing or receiving goods related to IVF.

The bill was substituted in committee to remove a provision making the law retroactive. Melson said it was to not favor any litigant. The substitute also removed a repeal date of Apr. 1, 2025.

“This isn’t a one-month, two-month process. This is a long-term process. So, we want to keep that continuity without fear of having to terminate,” Melson said during the committee meeting.

Both bills passed on a voice vote.

Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Birmingham, expressed concerns that the bills could have unintended consequences.

Coleman-Madison said Stutts’ bill, SB 160, gave not just doctors, but any person involved in providing IVF treatment, blanket criminal and civil immunity, leaving the patients unprotected from possible malpractice.

“There are always errors. You go to the doctor, they tell you with any procedure, you’re going to be at risk. It’s a risk for people, and it’s not just one life, it’s more than one life,” Coleman-Madison said.

Coleman-Madison was also concerned that Melson’s bill does not define when life begins, a major part of the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling.

“We keep trying to avoid the elephant in the room, which is why we are here in the first place,” she said.

Melson said after the meeting that he didn’t want to make anyone uncomfortable with having to make that statement.

“I get it. There are a lot of different opinions on what is alive or what is viable or what is not,” he said.

The House Health Committee Wednesday approved HB 237, the House version of Melson’s bill, on a voice vote.

Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, the bill’s sponsor, said it was intended to address the current pause in treatment affecting families.

“I think we will still have to address things as we move forwards, but hopefully once this bill has completed the entire process, we can take time to make sure we make the right decisions moving forward,” Collins said.

Kailani Greenwood, a cancer survivor, told members of the House committee Wednesday that chemotherapy, stem cell transplants and radiation therapy had left her at risk of infertility.

Because she always wanted to be a mom, she decided to freeze her eggs, and after pursuing IVF treatment last year, she said she was 33-weeks pregnant.

“I’m living proof of why IVF is so necessary,” she said.

Rally

People from across Alabama descended onto the front steps of the Alabama State House to advocate and share their journeys starting a family.

Barbara Collura, president and CEO of RESOLVE: The National Infertility Organization, speaks at a rally in support of legislation to protect in vitro fertilization at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama on Feb. 28, 2024. The rally took place Wednesday ahead of committee hearings on the legislation. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)

Barbara Collura, president and CEO of RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, said to the crowd that they see what is happening in Alabama and the world is watching what happens in the Statehouse Wednesday in these offices will be looked at by the rest of the country.

“This potentially could be a roadmap for other states to restrict access to IVF, or a roadmap on how to protect access to IVF and family building,” Collura said.

Those who attended the rally said going through the IVF process was difficult but sometimes the last option for those wanting children.

Gabbie Price, a 26-year-old Moody resident, has been trying to have a baby for six years. She went through several medicated fertility cycles, a round of intrauterine insemination (IUI), which plants sperm directly in the uterus, and a miscarriage.

The family only began IVF treatments recently, and Price said that “people don’t just wake up and decide they’re going to do IVF.”

“Once you do finally make that decision, there’s ‘how am I going to pay for it? How is this going to work for us?’ You have to be able to take time off work to go to appointments and do retrievals,” she said.

Even after the decision to go forward with IVF, it wasn’t clear how they would be able to afford it, leading them to sell their home and move into a camper.

“When we started looking into our fertility treatment, we knew that it was essentially going to cost the mortgage, and so we bought this camper, we paid cash for it, we remodeled it and we put it on family land so that we are now able to take everything that we’re paying for a mortgage and put that towards our treatment,” she said.

They were quoted nearly $15,000, but her clinic suggested she look into finding employment that offers benefits for fertility treatment.

Sarah Brown, a Birmingham resident and in vitro fertilization patient, holds a sign saying “I’m Here Because of IVF” at the Alabama Statehouse on Feb. 28, 2024 in Montgomery, Alabama. Supporters of bills aiming to protect IVF access held a rally Wednesday ahead of committee hearings on the legislation. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)

Elizabeth Goldman from Birmingham was diagnosed with infertility at the age of 14 when she was told she was born without a uterus, a rare disorder affecting 1 in every 4,500 females at birth.

“I knew I wanted a family from a young age. I knew I wanted to carry my own babies, and so I was told it was impossible,” Goldman said.

She applied to a University of Alabama in Birmingham inaugural program for uterus transplant in 2021, was accepted and moved from Mobile to take part of the program. After three rounds of IVF treatment, she gave birth in October 2023, and was told she could keep the uterus for a second child. The uterus is removed through a hysterectomy after pregnancy as it requires medication to keep the body for rejecting it.

Now, she said that it’s a “race against the clock.” She’s still taking medication to keep her body from rejecting the uterus, as she waits to start IVF treatment for her second child. But the medication can cause other issues, such as decreased kidney function. 

“You don’t want your kidney function to start decreasing. And at that point, my team could make the decision to go ahead and do a hysterectomy,” Goldman said.

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