Alabama's largest hospital pauses IVF treatments after state Supreme Court embryo ruling

The University of Alabama at Birmingham health system has paused infertility treatments after the Alabama State Supreme Court ruled embryos created during in vitro fertilization should be legally treated as children.

The UAB Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility told USA TODAY in statement Thursday it needs to evaluate the risk of its patients or doctors facing legal consequences for IVF treatments and is pausing egg fertilization and embryo development as it assesses.

"We are saddened that this will impact our patients’ attempt to have a baby through IVF,” UAB spokesperson Savannah Koplon said, noting that the process through egg retrieval remains in place.

As Alabama's biggest hospital, UAB's decision confirmed advocates fears that the ruling would put a pause to IVF treatment in the state as doctors and administrators feared any wrong step could open them up to homicide charges.

More:IVF supporters are 'freaking out' over Alabama court decision treating embryos as children

Alabama ruling deemed embryos fertilized through IVF are 'extrauterine children'

The ruling came in a court case in which two couples sued after their frozen embryos stored in liquid nitrogen were accidentally destroyed. The Alabama Supreme Court acknowledged its decision could reshape or even halt IVF in Alabama and potentially nationally, but it said law and faith required the finding.

The ruling repeatedly invoked Christian faith and the Alabama Constitution, which specifically protects unborn children, although that has typically referred to a developing fetus inside a womb.

IVF advocates say the ruling could have far-reaching consequences for millions of Americans struggling to get pregnant, especially those living in states with "personhood" laws granting legal status to unborn children.

What is IVF treatment?

IVF, short for in vitro fertilization, is a medical process by which eggs and sperm are combined in a laboratory to create embryos, then transferred into a uterus. This treatment is often used for people with a variety of infertility causes, including blocked, damaged or missing fallopian tubes or severe sperm abnormalities. 

2% of births a year involve IVF

IVF advocates have been warning for several years that decisions like the Alabama Supreme Court's were a potential repercussion of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and permit states to ban abortions. The federal Department of Health and Human Services estimated in 2020 that there at least 600,000 frozen embryos were in storage nationwide; the National Embryo Donation Center said the number could be 1 million.

Nationally, about 2% of births a year involve IVF. Alabama's ruling raises questions about what happens to those unused embryos in storage, whether authorities could order them to be implanted in unwilling parents or bring child abuse charges, and what happens if a doctor implants embryos that fail to develop.

Contributing: Bailey Schulz, USA TODAY, Associated Press