Alabama House Republicans voted to give IVF clinics and doctors legal immunity even when they “intentionally cause the death of an unborn child”
Summary
On FEBRUARY 29, 2024 a full floor debate occurred on Alabama House Bill 237. This bill gave legal immunity to IVF clinics and doctors for deliberately causing the death of unborn children. HB 237 was introduced and passed by an overwhelming majority Pro-Life Republican Alabama House.
What happened?
After the Alabama Supreme Court ruled in LePage v. Center for Reproductive Medicine, P.C. that the definition of "child" includes those who are unborn regardless of location inside or outside the uterus, some IVF clinics in Alabama paused services due to liability concerns. If embryos are children then wrongful death actions could be brought against those who caused the death of embryonic children.
In reaction to this ruling, Alabama House Rep. Terri Collins (R) introduced HB 237 which would protect IVF clinics and doctors from criminal liability even when they intentionally destroy embryos. This would allow IVF clinics in Alabama to reopen without fear of liability for their treatment of embryonic human beings.
See the text of HB 237
See the full House floor debate on HB 237 (also embedded below)
Raw video of the House floor debate on Alabama HB 237 on IVF Immunity (February 29, 2024)
Amendments to Protect Embryonic Lives
Alabama House representatives Ernie Yarbrough and Ben Harrison submitted two amendments to HB 237. Both amendments were proposed from the House floor and both were rejected by the majority Pro-Life Republican House.
YARBROUGH'S AMENDMENT FAILS — Rep. Ernie Yarbrough introduced an amendment that was clear and simple. It added one line that ensured the bill “shall not provide immunity to a person who intentionally causes the death of an unborn child.”
Yarbrough's amendment failed by a vote of 65 to 26 when the bill sponsor moved to table the amendment. The final vote on whether to table the amendment was 65 Yeas, 26 Nays, and 6 Abstains. Only 4 Republican representatives voted against tabling this amendment: Butler, Harrison, Mooney, and Yarbrough.
See video clip of Rep. Yarbrough introducing his amendment (also embedded below)
Alabama House Rep. Ernie Yarbrough argues for his amendment during floor debate.
HARRISON'S AMENDMENT FAILS — Rep. Ben Harrison put forward another amendment to pause giving IVF clinics and doctors blanket immunity in favor of assembling a study committee to determine whether current IVF protocols in Alabama were consistent with the public policy of the state.
Harrison's amendment failed by a vote of 71 to 21 when the bill sponsor moved to table it. The final vote on whether to table the amendment was 71 Yeas, 21 Nays, and 7 Abstains. Only 7 Republicans voted against tabling this amendment: Brown, Butler, Fidget, Gidley, Harrison, Lamb, Mooney, and Yarbrough.
Alabama House Rep. Ben Harrison arguing for his amendment during floor debate.
HB 237 passes to protect IVF clinics and doctors even when they deliberately destroy embryonic human beings
After debate on the House floor and the failure of the amendments outlined above, HB 237 passed with a vote of 94 Yeas, 6 Nays, and 3 Abstains.
Of the Yea votes that passed this bill, 24 were Democrats and 71 were Republicans.
Reps. Ernie Yarbrough and Ben Harrison were the only Republicans to vote against it.
The makeup of the Alabama House at this time was 28 Democrats, 75 Republicans, and 1 vacancy.
NOTE: Ultimately, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey (R) signed the Senate version of this bill (SB159) into law on March 6, 2024. SB 159 was passed by the Alabama Senate and then quickly approved by the Alabama House with a vote of 81 Yeas, 10 Nays, and 12 Abstains.