Major Alabama hospital pauses IVF after court rules frozen embryos are children

A recent decision by the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos hold the legal status of children and that individuals could face liability for accidentally destroying them has ignited a fresh controversy in the ongoing debate over reproductive medicine in the United States.

Following this decision, the largest hospital in the southern state has temporarily suspended its in-vitro fertilization (IVF) services due to concerns about potential criminal liability.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham health system has announced it will continue to retrieve eggs from women’s ovaries but will pause the subsequent step of fertilising the eggs with sperm before implantation into the uterus as part of the IVF process.

“We are saddened that this will impact our patients’ attempt to have a baby through IVF,” the leading state medical provider said in a statement.

“But we must evaluate the potential that our patients and our physicians could be prosecuted criminally or face punitive damages for following the standard of care for IVF treatments.”