Statesboro Republican state Rep. Lehman Franklin said he and his wife (right) are expecting their first child after years of waiting, multiple rounds of IVF treatment and an attempt at adoption that fell apart late in the process. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
House lawmakers overwhelmingly backed a measure designed to protect access to in-vitro fertilization after an Alabama Supreme Court ruling last year created uncertainty nationally.
The two-page bill puts into state code that “individuals have the right to obtain in vitro fertilization.” It’s a declaration that is currently lacking in Georgia law, and proponents argue the addition is needed to protect access to IVF at a time of volatility in health care.
The bill, sponsored by Statesboro Republican state Rep. Lehman Franklin, passed unanimously Thursday, even winning over the chamber’s most conservative members. Franklin avoided what he previously called “satellite issues” that are often tied up with IVF, arguing that anything beyond protecting access to IVF as it currently exists should be taken up in a separate bill.
Some conservatives have voiced concerns about IVF because of the unused embryos that are destroyed in the process.
“If you have concerns about the issues surrounding this, or you have ideas about it, or you don’t know where you stand, you don’t have to worry about this, because this bill doesn’t go near it. It doesn’t go anywhere to touch it. All it does is codify it and put it in the law,” Franklin said Thursday. “So, you can all rest easy and vote ‘yes’ on this bill and feel good about it.”
Franklin said he and his wife – who was in the House Thursday for the vote – are expecting their first child after years of waiting, multiple rounds of IVF treatment and an attempt at adoption that fell apart late in the process. Several other House lawmakers shared their own struggles to expand their family Thursday.
Rep. Esther Panitch, a Sandy Springs Democrat, says her daughter’s health challenges will cause her to need the assistance of the fertility preservation services that accompany IVF.
“I’m hopeful that the state won’t stand between me and my future grandchildren,” Panitch said.
The bill may be narrowly written but its impact is broad. Rep. Park Cannon, an Atlanta Democrat, emphasized the benefit to the LGBTQ community, such as lesbian couples who want to have a biological connection to their child.
But Cannon also argued that state lawmakers could do more to protect access, especially considering Georgia’s personhood law and what it may mean for embryos that are discarded in the process. She said Franklin’s bill is “really just the tip of this conversation.”
“Hopefully for legislators in this room, this is a moment for us to come together and to see families in real time as they try to family-make in many different ways,” Cannon said.
House Speaker Jon Burns, a Newington Republican, had pressed for protections for IVF since last year.
“This may be one of the most important bills we consider during this session,” Burns said.
Franklin told reporters after the vote that the bill is intended to “get ahead of the curve” to make sure what happened in Alabama last year doesn’t happen here. The Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos were children and parents could claim civil damages for their destruction – a ruling that upended access to IVF there and unnerved the nation.
House lawmakers passed two other fertility-related bills Thursday. One of them would require insurers to cover fertility preservation services for patients with cancer, sickle cell disease or lupus, and another would authorize certified nurse practitioners and physician assistants to perform artificial dissemination.
All three bills now move over to the Senate. The 2025 legislative session ends on Friday, April 4.
Georgia Recorder reporter Ross Williams contributed to this report.
This post was originally authored and published by Jill Nolin from Georgia Recorder via RSS Feed. Join today to get your news feed on Nationwide Report®.
