The Alabama House and Senate passed bills on Thursday that would "provide civil and criminal immunity to persons providing goods and services related to in vitro fertilization except acts or omission that are intentional and not arising from or related to IVF services.”
Weeks after the state’s Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are people, which led to area clinics pausing services in fear of litigation if a situation arose in which an embryo needed to be disposed of, opinions split on the matter, with even Donald Trump speaking out against the ruling, writing in a post to Truth Social, “We want to make it easier for mothers and fathers to have babies, not harder!"
Speaking on the House floor, Republican state Rep. Terri Collins spoke of the bills saying they "will help us achieve our goal, which is to continue the process for those families going through in vitro fertilization." According to CNN's reporting, The House bill, known as HB 237, passed out of the chamber with a vote of 94-6 with 3 abstentions. A companion bill in the Senate, SB 159, passed with a vote of 34-0.
From here, the Alabama state House and Senate will vote on a unified version of the bills before handing them up to Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey to be signed off on.
