Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) announced Wednesday that he will introduce legislation that will protect access to in vitro fertilization in the wake of a recent ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court.
The recent decision made by the Alabama Supreme Court declared cryogenically frozen embryos to be “extrauterine children.” While it does not prohibit obtaining IVF, the court did acknowledge that the decision could potentially make obtaining IVF more difficult. In response to this decision, Gottheimer cited the importance of being able to access IVF, as it helps “more than 300,000 women a year” become mothers.
ALABAMA IVF CASE: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE CONTROVERSIAL OPINION
“Why would we rob families of this opportunity just because some extremists in Congress or in a robe think they know what’s best?” Gottheimer asked. “In the minds of these extremists, if an embryo doesn’t survive implantation, it would be considered an illegal abortion. This is a safe and effective way for families to have children and is often a saving grace for women trying to become pregnant.”
To protect IVF access, the New Jersey lawmaker said he would introduce his Securing Access to Fertility Everywhere, or SAFE, Act “in the coming days.” The legislation, Gottheimer said, would protect both a family’s access to IVF and also protect doctors, nurses, and hospitals that prescribe IVF “from liability and state wrongful death claims in using and transporting embryonic cells.”
Gottheimer clarified that this legislation would not be a “get-out-of-jail-free card” for health workers who are “grossly negligent.” Rather, it aims to give “basic protections” to these workers providing IVF.
Another step that Gottheimer said he intends to take is to codify Roe v. Wade into law, which was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2022.
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In the wake of the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling, multiple state lawmakers are working on legislation to clarify what the decision means, as Justice Jay Mitchell stated in his opinion that the policy complications, as a result of the decision, were not the concern of the court.
Draft legislation from Alabama Republican state Sen. Tim Melson, the chairman of the Alabama Senate’s Healthcare Committee, reads that “any human egg that is fertilized in vitro shall be considered a potential life but shall not for any purposes be considered a human life … unless the fertilized egg is implanted into a woman’s uterus and a viable pregnancy can be medically detected.”
