FRANKLIN, Tenn. (WTVF) — A Tennessee fertility clinic is expecting an influx of new patients and shipped embryos after some clinics in Alabama suspended operations.
More Alabama fertility clinics are halting operations after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children. The decision was made in connection with a wrongful death case brought by couples who had embryos destroyed in a fertility clinic incident.
At Tennessee Fertility Institute, Dr. Christopher Montville said he's shocked by the Alabama Supreme Court's decision.
"A lot of those clinics had to pause all of those procedures, and so I felt really heartbroken for those patients to have to be told that they wouldn’t be able to move forward with that goal of wanting to build their family," Dr. Montville said.
Alabama patients have been calling Dr. Montville's Franklin clinic because they want to transfer their care and embryos.
“Embryos are shipped across the country, across the world, every day, and so that procedure is safe,” Montville said. “There are different shipping companies that we use, and so it’s been around for a long time shipping human tissue, especially embryos, sperm, and eggs.”
It's costly for patients, possibly $1,400 to $1,600, he said.
When Roe V. Wade was overturned, infertility advocate Sara Chambers was concerned with how it could impact in vitro fertilization known as IVF.
"I saw this coming, and it’s just devastating,” Chambers said.
Now her fear has become a reality in one state.
"It’s heartbreaking because it adds an extra layer of anxiety on such an already hard thing to go through," Chambers said.
She's not sure what the future holds and feels terrible for those in the middle of treatment in Alabama.
"I can’t even fathom what is going through their minds right now," Chambers said.
Dr. Montville said their clinics are ready to help.
"For those couples that already have embryos frozen, they can do what they call outside monitoring, so they can ship their embryos here to our facility, and they can do the ultrasounds, blood work at their home clinic, and then come here for the actual procedure," Montville said.
Alabama lawmakers are working to protect IVF in the state. However, it's unclear when those bills will be filed. In addition, the state's attorney general said he has no plans to prosecute IVF families or providers currently.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
