Invitro Fertilization

President Joe Biden signed an executive order Monday aimed at advancing the study of women's health by strengthening data collection and providing better funding opportunities for biomedical research while chiding Republicans for having "no clue about the power of women" but saying they're "about to find out" come November's election. The action comes barely a month after the President called Alabama’s high court ruling that “embryos are children” outrageous and unacceptable.

A bill that would have criminalized the death of an "unborn person" has been shelved in Iowa after a Senate Republican joined Democrats in voicing concerns about the potential impact on invitro fertilization after an Alabama court found frozen embryos can be considered “children.”

At least one clinic in Alabama has resumed in vitro fertilization treatments after the governor signed a bill into law shielding providers from potential legal liability raised by a court ruling that equated frozen embryos to children.

Sen. Katie Britt called President Joe Biden a “dithering and diminished leader” in the Republican rebuttal to his State of the Union address Thursday evening. The first-term Alabama Republican is the youngest woman in the Senate.

Alabama has a new law protecting in vitro fertilization providers from legal liability. Gov. Kay Ivey signed legislation Wednesday that shields IVF providers from possible lawsuits and criminal prosecutions stemming from a court ruling that equated frozen embryos to children.

Republicans in Alabama chose Justice Sarah Stewart on Super Tuesday as their nominee to lead the state Supreme Court, after the justices vaulted into the national spotlight last month for their decision to recognize frozen embryos as children.

Alabama lawmakers are moving fast to approve measures this week to protect invitro fertilization clinics from lawsuits in response to an uproar sparked by last month's state Supreme Court ruling that found frozen embryos have the rights of children under the state's wrongful death law.

Alabama lawmakers, who face public pressure to get invitro fertilization services restarted, are nearing approval of immunity legislation to shield providers from the fall out of a court ruling that equated frozen embryos to children.

Groups representing Alabama doctors and hospitals urged the state Supreme Court on Friday to revisit a decision equating frozen embryos to children, saying the ruling is blocking fertility treatments and harming the medical community.

This Associated Press analysis focuses on Alabama’s Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos are “children,” and how this and other legal decision are creating heightened focus on upcoming races for these judges nationally.