On Wednesday, Feb. 28, Mississippi Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith blocked a bill proposed by Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth that would guarantee access to in vitro fertilization, commonly referred to as IVF. The bill also would have protected doctors who administer IVF from prosecution.
This act came just a few days after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos created through IVF are children, opening the door for potential criminal liability in the state, which caused many clinics to pause any and all IVF treatment. However, the Alabama state legislature quickly passed SB159 that protects clinicians from any civil or criminal liability.
Oxford has two women’s clinics that assist families with IVF — Oxford Clinic for Women and Oxford Obstetrics and Gynecology Associates.
IVF is a fertility treatment that gives couples who struggle with fertility, or who are simply infertile, a chance to have children through normal pregnancy and childbirth, according to the University of Mississippi Medical Center.
“Fertilized eggs that reach the embryo stage are frozen and subsequently transferred, usually one at a time, into the uterus to establish a pregnancy. After a successful pregnancy occurs, spare embryos can be kept frozen for another attempt at pregnancy in the future,” per the UMMC website.
President of Pro-Life Mississippi Laura Knight agreed with the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision.
“The pro-life community watches the IVF industry closely because of the fragile lives that they are keeping within their clinics,” Knight said. “The Alabama Supreme Court supported the fact that those (embryos) are people and realize(d) it should be protected, and if the parents lose those children due to negligence on behalf of the IVF clinic, they should be able to sue for the loss of those lives.”
Ashley Pittman is Mississippi’s only lawyer whose practice is dedicated solely to fertility law.
“It’s estimated that 42% of U.S. residents have either undergone IVF treatment or know at least one person who has undergone treatment. As infertility rates continue to increase, the need for medical advances in IVF treatment and adequate patient care also continue to increase,” Pittman said. “IVF is an invaluable service that helps millions of people build their families in this country and throughout the world. The ramifications of criminalizing IVF would touch an untold number of people and limit their ability to begin or grow their families.”
With the recent legal and legislative developments in Alabama’s Supreme Court and state legislature, many IVF supporters have come to the treatment’s defense.
Junior forensic chemistry major Mathers Ross was conceived through IVF.
“It’s incredibly important for women to have access to IVF treatment. According to the CDC, 26% of women have difficulty conceiving or carrying to term, and IVF has been an incredible tool in helping women who want to be mothers but have difficulty doing so,” Ross said. “My mom went through IVF in order to get pregnant with me, so I owe the practice my life — literally.”
In summer 2022, the state of Alabama’s abortion ban went into place after the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Shortly after, Mississippi followed suit.
This raises the question with regard to IVF: Will Mississippi follow Alabama’s footsteps again?
Because of the terminology used by the Alabama Supreme Court, a similar ruling would be more difficult to achieve in Mississippi.
“The Alabama Supreme Court relied on the wrongful death statute to rule that the definition of ‘unborn child’ includes frozen/cryopreserved embryos,” Pittman said. “Therefore, they reasoned, prospective parents of frozen embryos have standing to sue on behalf of their ‘unborn children’ due to their untimely death caused by the negligence of the clinic.”
The way Mississippi views the death of an unborn child is slightly different, which is why any legal or legislative action may get some pushback.
“The Mississippi wrongful death statute, however, entitles a plaintiff to sue due to the death of a ‘quick child,’” Pittman said. “A ‘quick child’ is defined by Mississippi case law as a child who is in the womb at the time the negligent act occurred which caused the death of the child. For these reasons, in my opinion, it would be much more difficult for the Mississippi Supreme Court to determine that frozen embryos could be considered ‘children’ under Mississippi law.”
Duckworth’s proposed bill would have protected IVF at the federal level, but it required a unanimous vote to pass. One vote could prevent its passing, and Hyde-Smith blocked it.
“The bill before us today is a vast overreach that is full of poison pills that go way too far, far beyond ensuring legal access to IVF,” Hyde-Smith said, according to reporting by NBC News.
Despite vetoing this bill, Hyde-Smith is emphatically in favor of IVF protection and treatment as an alternative way to become pregnant. She does, at the same time, want to continue to advocate for the embryos created and frozen during IVF treatment.
“I support the ability for mothers and fathers to have total access to IVF and (bring) new life into the world. I also believe human life should be protected,” Hyde-Smith said, according to reporting by Mississippi Free Press.
The Daily Mississippian reached out to Hyde-Smith’s office for a comment and received no response.
Senior journalism major Camille Cochran considers herself a pro-life conservative.
“I feel like IVF is inherently a pro-life matter. It allows people who want to have kids to have the ability to do so,” Cochran said. “I do, however, think that some of the IVF practices, namely the treatment of frozen embryos, is a bit disturbing and unethical.”
There are some ethical concerns that would have to be met in order for those skeptical of IVF to resolve their concerns.
“We have ethical objections to the (IVF) industry and their disregard for human life from fertilization, especially when they reduce or destroy viable embryos with or without the permission of the biological parents, or they store frozen embryos for decades, or they donate frozen embryos for medical research to be destroyed in experiments,” Knight said. “Those are the main objections from the pro-life side.”
Duckworth has deep, personal reasons to support IVF and its federal protection.
“After a decade struggling with infertility after my service in Iraq, I was only able to get pregnant through the miracle of IVF,” Duckworth said on the Senate floor. “IVF is the reason I get to experience the chaos and the beauty, the stress and the joy that is motherhood.”
Knight clarified that pro-life supporters are not trying to eliminate IVF as a fertility option.
“We’re not trying to outlaw IVF,” Knight said. “IVF can be a good thing for infertility, but it doesn’t require the government’s protection.”
There are many unanswered questions surrounding the future of IVF in Mississippi and the U.S. as a whole, but there seems to be some middle ground between full IVF protection and criminalization.
“The goal, in my opinion, is to allow the medical industry to continue to assist patients in becoming pregnant through assisted reproduction, while also protecting the rights of the patients to produce embryos and also maintain decision making power over their embryos,” Pittman said.
