After Alabama’s supreme court decided that frozen embryos should be regarded as “extrauterine children,” several reproductive clinics in the state abruptly stopped offering IVF treatments.
Some are wondering what Mississippians may be affected by Alabama’s decision because Mississippi has previously attempted to enact a law of a similar nature.
“With IVF, we’re just watching nature happen. Not every ovum will develop into a newborn. Moreover, not every embryo will develop into a child.
At Mississippi Reproductive Medicine, Dr. Randy Hines specializes in infertility and performs in vitro fertilization (IVF), a fertility procedure that allows the fertilization of multiple eggs outside of the womb. The additional eggs are frozen if more than one egg becomes an embryo.
The couple who creates the embryos is the owner of those cells. Hines clarified, “We do not own the embryos. “We are forced to do as they request. They can remain frozen for an extended period, but we will speak with them in the hopes that they will make use of them.
What happens to embryos that don’t develop into infants is at the heart of the Alabama Supreme Court case, and these are the embryos involved.
Some people may be curious as to whether Mississippi will follow suit and what would happen in that case.
Hines stated, “I don’t think any of our patients need to be worrying about their embryos or their future right now.” “This is something Mississippi has dealt with in the past, and I believe Mississippi will deal with it again.”
