Miscarriage of an In-Vivo IVF Embryo in the Alabama Court of a Patient with an Autoimmune Disorder
Lochrane Chase started IVF in August, after nearly a year of trying to get pregnant and using less intrusive fertility treatments, such as ovarian stimulation. After genetic screening several of the 24 frozen embryos appeared to be viable after being stored for over two decades. Lochrane miscarried a few days after an embryo transfer resulted in a pregnancy. She says it was the most sad she has ever been in her life. She tried a few more times in December.
The Alabama Supreme Court ruled in favor of kids, prompting the pause in the debate, according to both sides.
“I’m rapidly losing time,” says Melissa. There is an autoimmune disorder that she needs to plan her IVF cycles for, and her ovarian reserves are low so she may only have a month or two to try again. If the ruling holds for much longer, she may not have another chance.
During in-vivo treatment, patients take hormones to release their mature eggs. Eggs are retrieved and fertilized in a lab with a sperm donor, before being transferred to the embryo stage. Doctors often transfer just one or two into the uterus at a time when there is a successful IVF cycle. Success isn’t promised; about one in three embryo transfers results in pregnancy.
Before another scheduled transfer in January, her doctor noticed fluid in her uterine lining; Lochrane underwent surgery in mid-February to address the issue, and scheduled another embryo transfer for March 18. Despite the uncertainty caused by the ruling, she has started taking the necessary hormones anyway in hopes that the situation resolves by then. She will have no way to move forward if the medications were not for nothing.
Florida Suspends Bill to Protect a Parent’s Unborn Child After I.V.F. Ruling, or Can Parents Be Sued After a Family Death?
The bill would allow parents to receive financial damages if their unborn child dies, which would make Florida the 13th state that allows this. The bill says in wrongful death cases parents of unborn children are considered survivors and can file a lawsuit.
But in recent weeks, Democrats and others warned that the bill amounts to “fetal personhood,” assigning full rights of a person to a fetus. They said such a designation would adversely affect fertility treatments and endanger doctors who assisted women in obtaining an abortion.
“Although I have worked diligently to respond to questions and concerns, I understand there is still work that needs to be done,” Senator Erin Grall, a Republican from Vero Beach and the bill’s sponsor, said in a statement. We need to get the policy right with this important issue.
The Alabama ruling led to abortion opponents like former President Donald J. Trump and several Republican governors showing their support for I.V.F.
Critics feared that the Florida bill would make it harder for families to have children, since it did not mention I.V.F.
“It’s fair to assume that I.V.F. was a problem for this bill from the jump,” said Mary Ziegler, a law professor and historian at the University of California, Davis, who used to teach at Florida State University. The backlash and concern went up a lot after the ruling. It’s kind of like it turned into a firestorm.”
A Note on “The Computation of Dark Energy” by F.B. Dehn, J.H. Saunders and W.D. Whittaker, W.A.M. Lazarev, C.
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