ACOG Statement on Alabama Supreme Court IVF Decision

The following is a statement attributable to Verda J. Hicks, MD, FACOG, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists: 

“The Alabama Supreme Court’s decision in LePage v. Mobile Infirmary Clinic will severely limit or effectively remove access to in vitro fertilization from the people of Alabama, unjustly and unfairly denying them the ability to build their families through a critical, effective fertility intervention that represents one of the most significant medical advances of the last century.

“This dangerous decision sets an incredibly concerning precedent for IVF access across the United States. We have seen state legislatures replicate one another’s reproductive health care policies in an ill-advised attempt to compete for the most restrictive and harmful laws. The outcome of this case will certainly affect access to fertility treatment across the country as more and more state legislatures advance policies that are based on an ideological and unscientific definition of personhood. It reflects a dangerous insertion of individual ideological beliefs into policy making about what medical care is available to all of us.

“The removal of options for preserving fertility is an unconscionable act of inhumanity to add to existing suffering—one that I, as a physician who cares for patients with cancer, feel deeply.

“Individuals and families seeking out fertility treatment and the clinicians who provide fertility treatment will now be in danger of civil and potentially criminal liability in Alabama, a state that already leads the nation in pregnancy criminalization. Additionally, this decision will likely have disastrous effects on the training, recruitment, and retention of obstetrician–gynecologists and fertility experts in Alabama, worsening access and equity issues and penalizing those already living in a state with diminished access to all obstetric and gynecologic care.

“ACOG is in support of our members in Alabama and the patients, families, and communities they serve and will continue working to protect access to reproductive health care and eliminate legislative and judicial interference in the practice of medicine.”