A doctor demonstrates how sperm is introduced to create embryos before they are placed under high-powered microscope for fertilization.
Infertility specialists and legal experts have said the ruling could have profound ramifications for would-be parents and physicians. Some patients have been scrambling to move their frozen embryos into storage in other states, and by Thursday, at least two of Alabama’s eight in vitro fertilization providers, the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Alabama Fertility, had decided to temporarily pause treatment.
Malizia: Very distressed. Really disappointed in the ruling for many reasons, mainly for the physicians, our patients, and everyone who supports the right to have children, when to have them and the ability to do that with medical treatment when needed. So when we start talking about ‘what can we do, what can we not do’ — that's a piece of the puzzle. That is very difficult to answer at this point. We are in the process of coming up with a plan through the help of our lab director and our counsel, both local and national counsel, to come up with a plan that is safe for patients and enables us to continue to care for patients in Alabama so we are not closing our doors. Our clinic is not closing. We continue to see patients every single day.
We're getting all sorts of calls that are very valid from patients who are extremely stressed and concerned about what this means for them and their specific care. We are taking those calls basically one-by-one. Physicians are calling patients directly, especially those that are actively in treatment to discuss their care and any modifications that might need to be made for patients that have embryos in storage here.