Alabama court ruling endangers fertility services (Also: reader suggestions for Black History Month)

February 23, 2024

Feb 23, 2024

Alabama’s Supreme Court ruled this week that frozen embryos are children and are therefore protected under Alabama law. Fertilized eggs would have the same protection under state law as babies after birth. This ruling could well lead to discontinuation of in vitro fertilization, where eggs are fertilized outside of the womb and are destroyed if they are found to have a genetic defect or if they are not used. The ruling specifically said that someone who destroyed fertilized eggs could be held liable in a wrongful death law suit. Alabama voters approved a personhood amendment granting fetuses full personhood rights in 2018.

There are currently 8 fertility clinics in Alabama, which had at least 1,595 cycles and 470 pregnancies in 2021, the last year reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As of now, we don’t know for certain how this ruling will affect availability of infertility services in Alabama, and how it affects those who have frozen embryos at Alabama facilities. Multiple reproductive endocrinology practices have reportedly paused IVF treatment, and some state lawmakers are proposing legislation to protect IVF treatment from this court ruling.

Implications for employers:

Companies may find that their employees and members who reside in Alabama have limited or no access to some infertility services within the state.
Companies may consider offering a travel benefit for members to obtain fertility care in adjacent states if it is not available in Alabama.
Many other states have laws that provide legal protection to a fetus, and future state legal decisions could further restrict access to some infertility services.

Additional Black History Month readings

Last week, I suggested some readings for Black History Month. Here are some additional suggestions from colleagues.

Books

Caste: The Origin of our Discontents --By Isabel Wilkerson. Relates the caste systems in the US with those in India and Nazi Germany - winner of multiple awards. LINK See also Wilkerson's earlier book, The Warmth of Other Suns about the move of Southern US Blacks to the Midwest and the West from 1915 to the 1970s LINK

Medical Apartheid The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to Present – By Harriet A. Washington LINK

Blindspot - By Mahzarin Banaji and Anthony Greenwald. Even well intentioned human minds contain inherent and unconscious biases, and awareness of these biases is a first step to mitigate them.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot LINK A dying young woman's cervical cancer cells powered groundbreaking medical achievements. She was buried in an unmarked grave and her family received no recognition or payment. (Made into a movie starring Oprah Winfrey currently on Max.)

Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital, by Sheri Fink. The staff at Memorial Hospital in New Orleans confront unimaginable challenges after Hurricane Katrina in 2005

Articles

Enanya, Nwamaka (Interview), "Filtering Bias out of Kidney Testing" Penn News, 2021 LINK

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