During his State of the Union address on Thursday night, President Joe Biden criticized the Supreme Court with a number of justices sitting in front of him.
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Last month, in vitro fertilization (IVF) access in Alabama was paused after the state’s Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos were the legal equivalent of children. Biden drew a parallel between the Alabama decision and the U.S. Supreme Court overturning the constitutional right to an abortion in June 2022.
The moment came when the president introduced a guest who had benefited from IVF treatments.
“Joining us tonight is Latorya Beasley, a social worker from Birmingham, Alabama. Fourteen months ago tonight, she and her husband welcomed a baby girl, thanks to the miracle of IVF,” Biden said. “She scheduled treatments to have a second child, but the Alabama Supreme Court shut down IVF treatments across the state, unleashed by the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.”
The president continued, “She was told her dream would have to wait. What her family had gone through should never have happened.”
Biden then called on Republicans in Congress to work with Democrats to “guarantee the right to IVF nationwide.”
The controversial ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court has been criticized by members of both major political parties. On Wednesday, Alabama lawmakers passed legislation that aims to protect IVF access following the state Supreme Court’s controversial ruling. The bill specifically protects doctors, clinics and other health care personnel who provide IVF treatments from facing civil and criminal liability.
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Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, a Republican, signed the measure into law later on Wednesday.
In a statement, Ivey said the bipartisan effort by state lawmakers to protect IVF providers “proves what we have been saying: Alabama works to foster a culture of life, and that certainly includes IVF.”
“IVF is a complex issue, no doubt, and I anticipate there will be more work to come, but right now, I am confident that this legislation will provide the assurances our IVF clinics need and will lead them to resume services immediately,” the governor added.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) health system, the state’s largest, said that it was “moving to promptly resume IVF treatments” but would continue to monitor “developments and advocate for protection.”
However, the IVF clinic involved in the wrongful-death lawsuit behind the state Supreme Court’s ruling—Infirmary Health Systems and the Center for Reproductive Medicine—said it would not yet resume IVF procedures.
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“At this time, we believe the law falls short of addressing the fertilized eggs currently stored across the state and leaves challenges for physicians and fertility clinics trying to help deserving families have children of their own,” Infirmary said in a statement.
Update 03/07/24, 11:18 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to include more background information.
