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Is IVF at risk in the US? Scientists fear for the fertility treatment’s future

An Alabama court ruling that human embryos outside the uterus should be regarded as children has raised concerns among doctors and scientists.
  1. Mariana Lenharo
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Illia Brusianskyi, a senior embryologist at West Coast Fertility Centers, in Fountain Valley, CA., adds media to petri dishes containing embryos before freezing..

Medium is added to dishes containing human embryos before they are frozen. Credit: Jay L. Clendenin/The Washington Post via Getty

A fertility treatment that has been used for 45 years is once again available in Alabama. In vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures in the state were halted after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled in February that embryos created using the technique have the same rights as children. A new state law protecting clinics from legal fallout has allowed IVF treatments to resume — but clinicians and scientists in the United States who are working with human embryos are not totally reassured and fear that they will face an increasing number of legal and constitutional challenges.

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Nature 628, 241-242 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00830-1

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