Following the chaos that unfolded when Alabama’s Supreme Court ruled frozen embryos are legally children, many are watching a bill in Iowa closely as its passage could impact in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics in the state, too.
On Thursday, Iowa House Republicans approved a bill that would criminalize the death of an “unborn person.” Currently the state Iaw has penalties for terminating or causing a serious injury to a “human pregnancy,” but the bill would amend the language from “human pregnancy” to an “unborn person.” The proposed language change, if the bills passes, would read: “causing of death of, or serious injury to, an unborn person." An “unborn person” would be defined as “an individual organism from fertilization to live birth.” While it still has to pass the state senate and be signed by the state’s governor, democrats are worried this could affect IVF clinics and patients similarly to what’s going on in Alabama.
“This bill right here … puts IVF at risk whether you want to believe it or not,” Iowa Democrat Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell told AP News. “We are now seeing the damage these laws can have on people seeking and providing reproductive health care.”
As Salon previously reported, the February ruling that frozen embryos are “children” in Alabama has caused chaos for families. IVF clinics across the state have paused IVF treatments due to concerns about how and if embryos can be discarded, and what happens if transfers fail. It is common for multiple eggs to be transferred and fertilized because not all transferred embryos turn into viable pregnancies. IVF patients usually have a few options for their fertilized eggs that haven’t been transferred: to discard them, donate them to research, donate them to another couple or keep them for a future pregnancy. In Iowa, there’s an increasing fear that the passage of the bill could have similar ramifications.
“As written, this bill does not explicitly protect IVF and sets a precedent with new language of ‘unborn person,’” Rep. Heather Matson said during a debate. “For years many of us have made the case that legislation or judicial rulings for fetal personhood would potentially make IVF illegal.”
