2 More Alabama Fertility Clinics Pause IVF After Court’s Chilling Ruling
Three fertility clinics suspending IVF services within days of the state Supreme Court’s ruling could mark just the beginning of widespread clinic closures.
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On Wednesday, a fertility clinic in Alabama announced they were suspending their IVF services due to the state Supreme Court’s recent ruling that frozen embryos are “extrauterine children.” A spokesperson for the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility said that UAB is “saddened” for their patients who struggle with infertility. Now, two more Alabama clinics have paused their IVF services.
Friday’s ruling came after three couples sued the Center for Reproductive Medicine and Mobile Infirmary Medical Center for wrongful death after another patient accidentally dropped and destroyed their embryos. On Friday, the state Supreme Court determined that the couples’ wrongful death suit could move forward, prompting Mobile Infirmary to announce on Thursday that it will suspend IVF services, per CNN. Alabama Fertility’s Birmingham-based clinic also announced on Thursday it will be suspending services “for at least a day or two.”
Mark Nix, the CEO of Infirmary Health, said the state Supreme Court ruling “has sadly left us with no choice but to pause IVF treatments for patients.” Nix continued, “We understand the burden this places on deserving families who want to bring babies into this world and who have no alternative options for conceiving.” Similarly, UAB’s spokesperson said on Wednesday that the clinic is pausing IVF services to “evaluate the potential that our patients and our physicians could be prosecuted criminally or face punitive damages for following the standard of care for IVF treatments.” In a statement to Jezebel, the spokesperson said they wanted to reiterate that while IVF is paused, “everything through egg retrieval remains in place.”