Patients urge Alabama lawmakers to restore IVF services in the state

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — LeeLee Ray went through eight miscarriages, one ectopic pregnancy and multiple surgeries before turning to surrogacy in her hopes of having a child.

She and her husband found a surrogate through a matching program, and they hoped to soon transfer frozen embryos. But now that plan is in doubt as Alabama fertility clinics paused IVF services in the wake of a state court ruling that embryos are considered children under the state's wrongful death law.

“I’m just frustrated. We had a light at the end of the tunnel,” Ray said. She said they can’t transfer their frozen embryos to their surrogate and can’t move the embryos out of state. Ray was one of more than 200 IVF patients who descended on the Alabama Statehouse Wednesday to urge lawmakers to find a way to restore IVF treatment in the state.

Republican lawmakers promised swift action and advanced proposals to provide criminal and civil lawsuit protections to in vitro fertilization service providers. But GOP lawmakers — navigating both a backlash over the IVF decision and hardline abortion opponents in their own party — steered clear of trying to define whether the embryos should be considered human life.