MONTGOMERY, Ala. (NEWSnet/AP) — Lawmakers are researching ways to resume vitro fertilization services in Alabama after such procedures went on hold because of a state Supreme Court ruling.

The court’s recent decision raised immediate questions about what liability fertility clinics could face. There was an immediate effect on the availability of IVF in the state; specifically, three health providers have announced they paused such services.

The case involved three couples who had frozen embryos destroyed in an accident at a storage facility, with ruling they could pursue wrongful death claims for their “extrauterine children.” Justices cited the wording of the wrongful death law along with sweeping language added to the Alabama Constitution in 2018 that it is state policy to recognize the “rights of the unborn child.”

House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels said the ruling has had a devastating impact on couples who had IVF procedures canceled.

“We have to act immediately and put politics to the side and address this issue, restoring the rights and decisions back to women and their doctors, not politicians,” Daniels said.

In response, Alabama legislators are working on proposals to try to remove the uncertainties for clinics. The bills are expected to be debated this week.

Republican Gov. Kay Ivey said Tuesday that she anticipates having a “bill on my desk very shortly while ensuring that the Legislature has time to get this right.”

“In Alabama, as I said last week, we work to foster a culture of life and that includes IVF. The Legislature is diligently working on addressing this issue as we speak,” Ivey said Tuesday.

For example, Daniels introduced a bill last week that a fertilized human egg or human embryo outside of a uterus “is not considered an unborn child or human being for any purpose under state law.”

Republican Sen. Tim Melson is working on similar legislation.

But while this option is under debate, there is pushback from some conservative and anti-abortion groups.

Eagle Forum of Alabama issued a statement urging lawmakers to “avoid hasty or ill-informed legislation that may be in direct violation of our Constitution as well as the clear definition of human life.”

“Life begins at conception, not implantation,” Eagle Forum stated.

And Eric Johnston, president of Alabama’s Pro-Life Coalition and a lawyer who helped draft Alabama’s anti-abortion laws, said his group would want some type of regulation on what could happens to unused embryos. He suggested a requirement that unwanted embryos could be put up for adoption instead of being destroyed or donated for research.

“These embryos, they grow in a petri dish separate for some period of time. It’s sort of the same thing as being in utero,” Johnston said.

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