Women in red states begin moving their frozen embryos out-of-state amid fears about Alabama’s court ruling that embryos are children

Following a recent court decision in Alabama that ruled frozen embryos are children, women in red states have begun transferring theirs to places that have fewer restrictions on reproductive health care.

Amanda Zurawski, 36, from Texas, decided to move her frozen embryos out of state out of fear that lawmakers might follow Alabama’s lead and prevent her from starting a family on her terms.

Meanwhile, Meghan Cole, 31, of Alabama, is considering moving her frozen embryos to New York or New Jersey, both Democratic states that are unlikely to restrict in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Alabama ruled last week that when a person at a fertility clinic dropped several frozen embryos, the clinic violated the state’s Wrongful Death Act, which defines a wrongful death as someone who dies due to a wrongful act or negligence. from another person, establishing that frozen embryos were considered people.

Frozen embryos are eggs removed from a woman’s ovaries and fertilized with sperm outside the uterus. If they are not implanted immediately in the uterus, they can be preserved for years. In some cases, however, embryos are discarded due to genetic abnormalities or when a person no longer needs them.

Now, IVF clinics and doctors in the state are pausing certain IVF procedures out of fear that if they discard any embryos, they could be prosecuted for wrongful death.

A handful of Republican-led states have declared that life begins the moment an egg is fertilized.

Ms. Zurawski said the IVF process alone is quite anxiety-provoking, but the ruling and subsequent closure of some clinics in Alabama have added “another layer of fear and anxiety.”

Zurawski is a lead plaintiff in a lawsuit alleging that Texas’ abortion ban endangered her life when, at 18 weeks pregnant in 2022, she went into septic shock and nearly died.

Doctors refused to perform an abortion because the fetus still had a heartbeat. In Texas, all abortions are prohibited except in cases to save the life of the mother.

The experience led her to try IVF and hopefully have a baby through a surrogate after doctors told her she couldn’t carry a baby to term.

But the legal landscape in Texas, along with the fear that followed the Alabama court ruling, convinced her and her husband to look to other states to store the embryos.

Ms. Zurawski, who spoke exclusively with NBC NewsHe said: ‘It’s absolutely terrifying.

“But it’s also very infuriating because the same people who support the bans that almost killed me are also on the same side that are now trying to make it harder for people like me to have a family.”

Meanwhile, Mrs. Cole said she is also struggling move their embryos to an “IVF-friendly” state, such as New York or New Jersey.

Ms Cole is unable to have a child for health reasons and planned to use a surrogate mother, who traveled to Birmingham for an embryo transfer LAST WEEK. when she learned that the clinic had closed its doors.

She said: ‘I’m scared of what I’m supposed to do with the embryos that are going to stay frozen.

“It just didn’t occur to me that, you know, I could ever be held responsible for discarding embryos in the normal course… It’s a group of cells… they can’t live outside the freezer… So yeah , this was kind of a surprise.’

So far it is not known whether the owners of the embryos could be sued. All the decision said was that the parents of a destroyed embryo can sue the person who made it for wrongful death.

And as of now, Alabama women can still store their fertilized eggs.

Alabama Fertility, where Meghan Cole is a patient, shared a statement on social media following the court’s decision: “We have made the incredibly difficult decision to perform new IVF treatments due to the legal risk to our clinic and embryologists.

“We are working as hard as we can to alert our legislators to the far-reaching negative impact of this ruling on Alabama women.”

Following the Alabama court ruling, three clinics in the state closed their doors out of fear and confusion.

Zurawski is a lead plaintiff in a lawsuit alleging that Texas’ abortion ban endangered her life when, at 18 weeks pregnant in 2022, she went into septic shock and nearly died.

In vitro fertilization involves removing eggs from the woman’s ovaries, fertilizing them outside the uterus, and implanting them in the woman’s uterus. [Stock image]

While traveling out of state to store embryos is an option, it can be prohibitively expensive.

The average IVF cycle can cost between $12,000 and $17,000, which includes egg retrieval and mixing eggs with sperm, although it does not include medications. The cost of freezing embryos ranges from $1,000 to $2,000, with additional storage fees of $500 to $1,000 per year.

Traveling out of state adds a lot of additional costs.

Mrs. Zurawski said, “I think about people in Alabama who might be considering doing the same thing, and it’s not an option for everyone.”

‘IVF itself is already extremely expensive. And then adding an extra layer of possible need to transport them. It’s just one more expense. It’s more logistics. There are more unknowns.

Mrs. Zurawski declined to say where she and her husband would move their embryos “to protect ourselves.”

Texas’ abortion ban includes exceptions for the life and health of the mother, but hefty penalties of six-figure fines and jail terms have had a chilling effect on the entire healthcare landscape there.

As a result, patients in Texas have suffered serious complications and devastating outcomes.

One case that recently made headlines across the country was that of Katie Cox, who was told by her doctor last summer that her fetus had a diagnosis of trisomy and would not survive more than a week if carried to term, warning her that a Induced labor could rupture your uterus if you died in utero.

Despite the danger to her life, she had to go to court and ask for approval to have an immediate abortion, but the state did not grant it until December, while she was in New Mexico obtaining the procedure she needed.

In 2022, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson, which struck down federal abortion protections established by Roe v. Wade in 1973. Almost immediately, states began instituting restrictions on abortion, and 15 now have outright abortion bans. procedure.

Abortion rights and IVF advocates have since feared that reproductive technology could also be at risk, as a handful of red states passed laws giving fetuses the same rights as people.

Barbara Collura, CEO of Resolve: The National Infertility Association, saying: ‘This is exactly what we feared and were worried about where it was going.

“We are very concerned that this could happen in other states.”