An uptick in state personhood bills fuels growing fears over IVF restrictions
In the wake of the Alabama Supreme Court’s IVF ruling, reproductive rights groups are sounding the alarm over personhood legislation in 14 states.
Following the recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling that embryos created through in vitro fertilization are considered children, reproductive rights groups are sounding the alarm over so-called fetal personhood bills in more than a dozen other states they say could be interpreted to restrict IVF treatments if enacted.
As of Friday, fetal personhood bills had been introduced in at least 14 state legislatures during their ongoing 2024 sessions, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights and the Guttmacher Institute, research groups that advocate for abortion rights. It marks the latest phase in an uptick in such bills since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturned the national right an abortion in the U.S.
“Since Dobbs, we have seen a marked increase in personhood bills introduced in state legislatures across the country,” Elisabeth Smith, the director of state policy and advocacy at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement to NBC News.
