Georgia Bill To Increase IVF Oversight Unlikely To Pass This Year

Main Category: Fertility
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 10 Mar 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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A Georgia bill (S.B. 169) that would place restrictions on the number of embryos implanted in a woman during an in vitro fertilization procedure was sent to a subcommittee on Thursday for further study, increasing the likelihood that the bill will not pass this year, the AP/Augusta Chronicle reports. According to the AP/Chronicle, several key state lawmakers expressed support for the bill in concept but needed more time to study the legislation to ensure that it can withstand legal challenges. Georgia's parliamentary rules state that any bill considered this session would have to be reported out of committee on Monday, "meaning the measure is effectively dead," the AP/Chronicle reports. However, the issue likely will re-emerge next year, according to the AP/Chronicle. The bill would allow up to two embryos to be created or implanted at once in women younger than age 40; and up to three in women age 40 and older.

Non-binding guidelines from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine recommend the implantation of no more than two or three embryos in a woman younger than age 40 and that no more than five in a woman older than age 40. The bill is the first in the nation to attempt to place legal restrictions on the number of embryos that can be implanted during IVF. A similar bill is pending in Missouri. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that about 20% of clinics in the U.S. follow the ASRM guidelines. State Sen. Ralph Hudgens (R), who introduced the bill on March 3, said it was inspired by the case of 33-year-old Nadya Suleman, who gave birth to octuplets via IVF.

Critics of the bill argue that it will be devastating to the state's fertility industry, placing treatment for infertile couples out of reach. Renee Whitley, co-chair of the infertility group Resolve, said, "There are people who are terrified, literally terrified, this bill is going to take away their ability to have [a] child." Bill Butler -- a reproductive endocrinologist from Macon, Ga., who sits on the state Composite Board of Medical Examiners -- said that Suleman's physician would have lost his license in Georgia "because he would have violated our professional and ethical guidelines." However, "this bill also violates our professional and ethical guidelines," Butler said, adding that the bill would mandate that physicians provide care below what is recommended by industry experts.

Supporters of the bill argue that the "big bucks baby-making industry needs better controls," the AP/Chronicle reports. Jennifer Lahl of the Center for Bioethics and Culture said multiple births resulting from fertility treatments are dangerous for the health of the woman and the infants. Lahl said, "Our bodies were not designed to produce litters." She said the legislation is a "landmark bill." Some lawmakers were unsympathetic to critics' arguments that the industry should be allowed to regulate itself. Sen. Don Balfour (R) said, "We regulate the medical profession every day of the week ... the argument of self-regulation is a red herring" (McCaffrey, AP/Augusta Chronicle, 3/5).

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