Just a week after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos are children 3 Alabama clinics paused their IVF treatments. Many women all over the world undergo this treatment to have kids, an IVF end goal is to have more fertilized eggs the people who usually undergo this procedure are women who have trouble getting pregnant.

The University of Alabama Birmingham was the first to announce the pause followed by Alabama Fertility, and finally The Center For Reproductive Medicine. Many of these clinics are trying to find a solution for their patients but none are present at the time.

Many may ask Why is it Illegal? Under Alabama law an embryo is considered a child this was also the main in the Roe v Wade trials in the summer of 2022. This is all coming after an incident in an Alabama clinic where someone walked into an unlocked storage area for frozen eggs and knocked them all down then on Feb 16, 2024 judge stated that this violated the Alabama Wrongful Death Act because those eggs were considered children under law. If one of the clinics are found doing an IVF treatment they could face civil charges.

There were 750,000 children born through IVF in 2023 and 12,000,000 since its invention in 1978. Many mothers are heartbroken hearing the news and sharing their stories on social media and news outlets. This is also leaving many clinics stunned with them being clueless on what to do with unused embryos and whether they should continue treatment or not.

Info credit – https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/university-alabama-pauses-ivf-services-court-rules-embryos-are-childre-rcna139846