By: Stephen Haymond

On February 16th the Alabama Supreme Court made an unprecedented ruling. Frozen embryos will now be considered children under state law. IVF (in vitro fertilization: an incredibly expensive scientific technique to help women with conception issues have a chance at becoming pregnant) is in serious jeopardy in the state. UAB hospital shut down their fertility clinic last week. The future of women with conception issues and their options for even a chance at becoming pregnant in the state of Alabama is currently uncertain.

In response to all this uncertainty, Xavier Becerra the secretary of the United States department Health and Human services arranged a meeting with 8 women who have experience or currently are in the middle of IVF treatments in Alabama and a fertility specialist. They invited the national and local media and let all of these women tell their stories with vital real world context provided by Dr. Jared Robins, the CEO of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.

“I’ve been a fertility doctor for more than 25 years, that devotion, holding our patients’ hands, that’s a really important part of our identity,” he said. “Those doctors are really worried, not for themselves, but for what’s going to happen to all of these patients.” says Robins. Who also reported that clinics in neighboring states Georgia and Tennessee are gearing up to take in a wave of patients from Alabama even though many are already at capacity.

Several of the women vocalized that they felt their lives and their journeys were being politicized unfairly. “In my mind, it doesn’t matter where you fall on the political spectrum. We are all here to tell you that embryos are not babies, or we would all have a lot more babies we would be very, very grateful for,” said Julie Cohen. A woman who recently decided to pass up a chance at embryo transplant and is wondering if it might’ve been her last chance in her home state.

Even through the tears and tightly clutched baby photos the reality of the situation never left the room. “So, in order to have a national solution here, it has to be a national proposal” said Secretary Becerra. There is a long road ahead of trying to find the nuance between the state and national government.

Through all the uncertainty these women have experienced for a chance to have a child, they remain steadfast that the treatment remains well worth it for the chance at pregnancy. Nearing the end of the conversation the secretary asked if they’d experienced more than one miscarriage, had undergone years of treatment or had sacrificed significantly to access fertility treatment and several women raised their hands. He then asked them to raise their hand if they would choose to not go through the process all over again, nobody did.

As the meeting closed, Cohen gave one last impassioned statement to the gathered press “If you are already blaming yourself, now you’re worried that if you’re accused of doing something to cause that miscarriage, women are gonna die. This goes so beyond just IVF or not, it’s gonna affect all women”

The women in the circle all agreed. To all of them, this sets a precedent that will eventually affect all women in the state.