ATLANTA — Some Georgia lawmakers are trying to make a case for new legislation to protect in vitro fertilization, or IVF, in light of an Alabama court ruling last month.
This is a longshot, eleventh-hour proposal, but its Democratic backers say it should get Republican support.
The bill addresses human embryos used for IVF – and says that an “embryo (that) exists outside of a uterus… shall not under any circumstances be considered an unborn child, a minor child (or) a natural person.” State Rep. Teri Anulewicz (D-Smyrna) says because in vitro fertilization has broad support as a tool to build families, her bill should get backing from Republicans.
"I mean if you’re the party of family values, I would think you would support being able to have a family, in whatever way that family happens to take shape," Anulewicz said Monday.
However, in a state capitol where Republicans and Democrats fought bitterly over the 2019 heartbeat bill – which made abortion illegal after an in-utero embryo produces a heartbeat – bipartisan agreement on this issue could also be a challenge.
"I do believe that life does begin at fertilization," said Mike Griffin of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board. Griffin lobbied hard for the heartbeat bill – which became law after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Griffin says that law keeps in vitro fertilization legal in Georgia, regardless of what happened in Alabama -- at least, for now.
"Should there be a time when there should be some means of addressing that issue by way of ensuring the protection of those innocent human beings that are in in vitro type of procedures? Sure. But that’s not where we are right now," Griffin said.
As a practical matter, the legislature, which faces many obstacles, is 90 percent through a 40-day session that will stop cold a week from Thursday.