TEXAS, USA — Gov. Greg Abbott is speaking on in vitro fertilization (IVF) following a controversial decision made by the Alabama Supreme Court.
On Feb. 16, the Alabama Supreme Court narrowly ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law. The ruling stems from a case of three Alabama couples who lost frozen embryos during an accident at a storage facility. The finding, treating the embryos similar to a child or gestating fetus under the wrongful death statute, raised questions about what legal liabilities clinics could face during IVF processes, including the freezing, testing and disposal of embryos.
Since the ruling, three IVF providers in Alabama have paused the treatments for now.
IVF is a type of fertility treatment where eggs are collected from the ovaries and combined with sperm outside of a person’s body in a lab. The fertilized egg, which is called an embryo, is then placed inside of the uterus. The process often results in more embryos than can be transferred into the uterus in one cycle, and those extra embryos may be frozen and stored for future use.
In an interview with CNN, Abbott echoed former President Donald Trump's support for IVF, saying they just "want to make it easier for people to have babies, not make it hard."
"I think the goal is to make sure that we can find a pathway to ensure that parents who otherwise may not have the opportunity to have a child will be able to have access to the IVF process and become parents and give life to babies," Abbott said.
With Texas having one of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the US, the governor was asked if this ruling should raise any concerns for Texas families who are using IVF or have extra or frozen embryos.
"These are very complex issues where i'm not sure everybody has really thought about what all the potential problems are and as a result, no one really knows what the potential answers are," Abbott said. "I think you're going to see states across the entire country coming together and grappling with these issues and coming up with solutions."
When asked if he would be urging the legislature to come up with laws regarding IVF, Abbott said Texas would be among the states that would be addressing this issue when lawmakers could "bring together all the different facts, scenarios about what could happen."
He said they would do everything possible to ensure Texas remains a pro-life state.
"We, as a state, want to ensure that we promote life, we bring more life into the world and we empower parents to be able to have more children," Abbott said.