Tennessee Senate passes bill to protect access to IVF
By Natalie Richardson,
PET
| 03. 24. 2025
The Fertility Treatment and Contraceptive Protection Act passed unanimously in the Tennessee Senate and aims to protect access to IVF in the state.
The bill (SB0449/HB0533) was filed by Republicans Senator Becky Massey and Representative Iris Rudder received support from both Republican and Democrat senators. The bill aims to protect access to IVF and contraception in the state and clarify that access is not prohibited under existing state laws on abortion. A similar bill was rejected last year.
'I am very pleased by the unanimous passage of SB0449,' Senator Massey told WVLT News. 'I would like to emphasise that this bill does not mandate coverage or create an entitlement for fertility treatment or contraceptives.'
Following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v Wade in 2022, Tennessee introduced a restrictive abortion ban. This prompted concerns that access to IVF in the state could be restricted if legal protections were interpreted as extending to embryos, as in Alabama (see BioNews 1228). Since then, both parties have attempted to introduce bills to clarify the law on IVF...
Related Articles
Since the “CRISPR babies” scandal in 2018, no additional genetically modified babies are known to have been born. Now several techno-enthusiastic billionaires are setting up privately funded companies to genetically edit human embryos, with the explicit intention of creating genetically modified children.
Heritable genome editing remains prohibited by policies in the overwhelming majority of countries that have any relevant policy, and by a binding European treaty. Support for keeping it legally off limits is widespread, including among scientists...
By Ed Cara, Gizmodo | 06.22.2025
In late May, several scientific organizations, including the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy (ISCT), banded together to call for a 10-year moratorium on using CRISPR and related technologies to pursue human heritable germline editing. The declaration also outlined...
By Elise Kinsella, ABC News | 06.15.2025
When *Sarah and her partner needed fertility testing, it was Monash IVF that the pair turned to.
"Having a quick browse online, Monash IVF was one of the most prominent ones that came up on Google search and after contacting...
By Tory Shepherd, The Guardian | 06.13.2025
IVF is “big business” and experts are concerned about conflicts of interest between profit-making and helping families have children.
Monash IVF’s second embryo bungle has sparked renewed scrutiny on the IVF industry as a whole amid calls for national regulation...
