As threat to IVF looms in Alabama, patients over 35 or with serious diseases worry for their futures
Women over 35 and those facing serious diseases like cancer, lupus and sickle cell are among the most likely to turn to IVF to build the families they desperately want
Thirty-seven-year-old Corinn O’Brien is about two months pregnant through in vitro fertilization, but an ultrasound recently showed the fetus might be in trouble, and she wants the option to try again if she needs to.
Cancer survivor Kailani Greenwood, due to give birth in spring after undergoing IVF, hopes to have more children in the future and has four frozen embryos in storage.
But the Alabama women who represent two groups most likely to turn to IVF to build the families they desperately want — women over 35 and those with serious diseases — worry about whether those options will be there when they need them. O’Brien and Greenwood are among the many whose dreams are in limbo after three of Alabama’s largest clinics paused IVF services in the wake of a state Supreme Court ruling that described frozen embryos as “extrauterine children.”
“It’s been hard,” O’Brien said, her voice breaking. “I have no idea what will happen next, and that’s really scary.”
