It could take as long as a week before Gov. Kay Ivey (pictured signing a bill to institute an almost complete ban on abortion with few exceptions in 2019) would sign the bill into law. Photo courtesy of Alabama governor's office/UPI |
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Feb. 29 (UPI) -- Alabama lawmakers passed legislation Thursday to protect access to in vitro fertilization in the wake of a controversial state Supreme Court ruling that embryos are children.
The House voted 94-6 with three abstentions on House Bill 237 sponsored by Republican State Rep. Terry Collins. A few hours later, the Senate then passed a similar version of the legislation, Senate Bill 159 sponsored by State Sen. Tim Melsen, also a Republican, in a 34-0 vote with zero abstentions.
A consolidated bill passed by Congress could end up on Gov. Kay Ivey's desk to be signed into law in a week.
After the Alabama Supreme Court's ruling earlier this month, roughly half of the state's IVF clinics suspended those services for fear of wrongful death lawsuits or criminal charges for discarding unused embryos, a routine part of IVF.
The bill, if enacted, would provide civil and criminal immunity "for death or damage to an embryo" as part of IVF treatment.
"No action, suit or criminal prosecution for the damage to or death of an embryo shall be brought or maintained against any individual or entity when providing or receiving services related to in vitro fertilization," the House states, with the Senate bill being similarly worded.
Collins, R-Decatur, said it is not a longterm solution and is meant to allow clinics to resume helping families.
Collins speculated the state legislature could revisit the issue next year with a constitutional amendment that would be on the ballot in November.
Over a dozen lawmakers debated for more than two-and-a-half hours prior to the vote. The bill passed with bipartisan support, with four Democrats and two Republicans voting against it.
The debate in the Alabama legislature comes after Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., blocked passage of a bill that would protect access to IVF on the federal level.
Hyde-Smith argued the bill "would subject religious and pro-life organizations to crippling lawsuits."
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., who introduced the bill, used IVF for two of her children. She argued Alabama's ruling would have forced her to miscarry three nonviable embryos or potentially face criminal charges.
"That's the kind of future that we're fighting to prevent -- where frozen embryos have more rights than the women who would carry them," she said.
