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Doctors from fertility clinics follow the debate in the Alabama legislature

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Butch Dill / AP

In response to a Supreme Court ruling in the US state, Alabama has passed a new law to protect against liability claims related to in vitro fertilization (IVF).

After the "overwhelming" approval of the bill in the state legislature, she has now signed the law, Republican Governor Kay Ivey said on Wednesday on the online service X.

The law provides “civil and criminal immunity for death or damage to an embryo for any natural or legal person offering or receiving services related to in vitro fertilization.”

The Alabama Supreme Court ruled in February that frozen embryos should be considered children, based on an 1872 law.

In that case, three couples sued the clinic after their frozen embryos were accidentally dropped and destroyed by a patient (you can read more about the background here).

In response to the ruling, several fertility clinics in the state announced that they would no longer perform in vitro fertilization due to the legal risks.

After the new law was passed, the University of Alabama said it would resume IVF treatments soon.

A number of Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, distanced themselves from the Supreme Court's ruling in Alabama.

Sharp criticism also came from US President Joe Biden, who viewed the court's decision as a direct result of the overturning of the landmark ruling »Roe v.

Wade”.

Republicans in the state are facing a crisis of their own making by adding an anti-abortion provision to the Alabama Constitution in 2018.

The amendment, approved by 59 percent of voters at the time, states that it is the state's policy to recognize the "rights of the unborn child."

Development predicted years ago

This formulation became the basis of the recent court ruling.

Advocates had argued years ago that Roe v. would allow the state to ban abortions.

Wade should be tilted.

Opponents predicted that this could lead to the attribution of “personal rights” to fertilized eggs.

In June 2022, the majority conservative US Supreme Court overturned the constitutional, nationwide right to abortion that had existed since 1973.

Since then, the right to abortion is no longer enshrined in the Constitution and the decision rests with the states.

Alabama is one of about two dozen U.S. states that have since banned or severely restricted abortions.

sol/AFP/AP