NEW ORLEANS — In your Breakdown: how will Louisiana legislators protect in-vitro fertilization?
Part of the IVF bill put forth by Republican Representative Paula Davis was met with pushback in Senate Committee Tuesday.
First, some background. In February, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos created through IVF are legally considered children and have the same legal protections. Hospitals across the state stopped or paused their IVF programs as medical providers feared they could be prosecuted.
Representative Davis says her House Bill 833 is in direct response to this and would clarify language in the Louisiana law.
But Senate Judiciary A Committee members weren’t all fans of an amendment to part of the law which currently reads: "Human embryo" means a fertilized human ovum that is a biological human being, with certain rights granted by law, composed of one or more living human cells and human genetic material.
An amendment put forth by Davis would delete “biological human being, with certain rights granted by law.” Representative Davis’ IVF legal expert said it would bring IVF legal language into tune with the definition of ‘human being’ elsewhere in Louisiana law, and shield doctors from being accused of committing crimes against those human beings.
Attorney Katie Bliss said, “Because of that moment of implantation, again, that’s when it’s afforded the rights otherwise protected by law. And to have this defined as a human being in this essence of fertilization contradicts with the preexisting laws.”
But the syntax caused a snag. Some legislators argued that a fertilized egg is a life.
“Whether implanted or not, I think many of us have attempted to protect the embryo. Because we have a little feeling, a little different definition than what you have. I’m not suggesting you’re wrong. I’m just saying some of us hold a different definition,” said Senator Rick Edmonds.
The amendment failed, so with language defining IVF embryos as human beings, the bill now goes to the full Senate floor. It could be brought up on Wednesday.
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