The Alabama state house and senate pushed through legislation that protects medical professionals and patients seeking in vitro fertilization in response to the state’s supreme court criminalizing the disposal of unused embryos, Politico reports.
Responding to the outrage brought by the far-right court justices’ ruling two weeks ago that fertilized embryos are constitutionally protected citizens, the elected representatives sought to ensconce in law protections for individuals and clinics who provide IVF treatments, where eggs are fertilized outside the womb and frequently unused embryos are aborted if implanted or destroyed if stored.
The Alabama court ruling forced at least three of the state’s fertility clinics to suspend IVF treatment, and scores of women reportedly attempted to ship their frozen embryos out of state to continue treatment without the risk of being charged with manslaughter after they got pregnant.