The Alabama House of Representatives has again passed a bill intended to give legal protection to in vitro fertilization clinics after an Alabama Supreme Court ruling caused some to pause services.

Lawmakers have scrambled to provide immunity that would allow clinics to resume services after the court ruled that frozen embryos held in storage have the legal status of children for purposes of civil liability under Alabama’s wrongful death of a minor law.

The House and Senate passed similar bills Tuesday. Proponents of the legislation hope both chambers can agree on an identical bill Wednesday.

The House passed that bill, SB159 by Sen. Tim Melson, R-Florence, by a vote of 81-12, with nine abstentions. The final step is for the Senate to concur and send it to Gov. Kay Ivey, who can sign it into law.

Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, the House sponsor of the bill, spoke for the legislation on the House floor Wednesday afternoon, while Democratic lawmakers said it did not directly address what the Supreme Court ruled and would not fix the problem.

Collins, reiterating a point she has made repeatedly, said the goal is to allow clinics to resume services and possibly explore further legislation later.

“This is our best solution to help the families that are in the middle of that process continue that process,” Collins said.

Families, doctors, and other advocates have come to the State House in the last week to rally, speak at public hearings, and urge lawmakers to take action to protect IVF services.

Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, who is an attorney, said Collins’ bill will not prevent lawsuits against clinics. Democratic lawmakers have proposed legislation that would specify that embryos in storage outside a womb are not considered children.

“We aren’t providing a solution here,” England said. “We’re creating more problems. We have to confront the elephant in the room.”

Seventy of the 75 Republicans in the House voted for the bill. Eleven of the 28 Democrats voted for it.

Ten Democrats and two Republicans voted no. Seven Democrats and two Republicans abstained.

The Legislature was abruptly confronted with the IVF issue after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled in favor of three families who filed lawsuits under the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. The lawsuits were filed against the Mobile Infirmary Medical Center after a patient at the hospital wandered into the hospital’s fertility clinic in 2020 and removed several embryos, dropped them, and destroyed them.

The trial court dismissed the families’ lawsuits under the wrongful death act, finding that the embryos did not fit the definition of children under the law. But the Supreme Court decision reversed that in a decision on Feb. 16.

SB159 says: “Related to in vitro fertilization and notwithstanding any provision of law, including any cause of action provided in (the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act), no action, suit, or criminal prosecution for the damage to or death of an embryo shall be brought or maintained against any individual or entity when providing or receiving services related to in vitro fertilization.”

On Tuesday, Dr. Janet Bouknight of Alabama Fertility clinic said the bill would provide the assurances the clinic needs to resume services. Doctors and patients from Alabama Fertility were among those who came to the State House over the last week.

“As currently drafted, this gets us back to taking care of our patients,” Bouknight said.

House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville, said Wednesday afternoon the bill falls short because it does not address the question of whether embryos outside the womb are considered children under state law.

“Until that issue is addressed, it’s just putting a Band-Aid over something that requires stitches and surgery,” Daniels said.

Daniels proposed a bill, HB225, that says: “Any fertilized human egg or human embryo that exists in any form outside of the uterus of a human body shall not, under any circumstances, be considered an unborn child, a minor child, a natural person, or any other term that connotes a human being for any purpose under state law.”

Daniels also proposed a constitutional amendment, HB240, which would become part of an amendment passed by voters in 2018 that said it is the public policy of to recognize the sanctity of life and to protect the rights of the unborn child. HB240 would add that an embryo outside a uterus is not an unborn life or unborn child.

The Legislature has not considered either of those bills.

After the House passed SB159 on Wednesday, House Republicans held a news conference to say that the bill represents an important accomplishment that will allow the clinics to resume services.

House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, said, he has heard from families who had the IVF process interrupted after the court ruling.

“I’ve had people call in tears and say we were almost ready to get the process done and they cut us short,” Ledbetter said. “But after today they can start that back.”

Collins said the urgency of the need for the legislation led to many changes before the bill was finished.

“I truly hope and believe that the clinics will open back, that this is going to provide the immunity that they need to continue doing the process with these families,” Collins said. “I appreciate everybody working with us that’s been behind the scenes, that’s been working together, that’s asked the really good questions and asked the really hard questions.”

Ledbetter said he expects more discussions about whether more legislation is needed.

“There’s a lot of conversation going on right now while we address this,” Ledbetter said. “We certainly need to continue those conversations and probably will see moves to come down the road, put a committee together to try to figure that out with professionals and with members as well.”