The Center for Reproductive Medicine (CRM), which offers in-vitro fertilization (IVF) therapy, is moving its Mobile location and adding another in Baldwin County as part of an expansion in South Alabama. The move comes amid a lawsuit gaining national attention, and false information has been reported claiming that the clinic is closing.
Mobile Infirmary, which owns the current building where CRM is located, stopped IVF therapy following a Supreme Court decision ruling embryos were protected by Alabama’s Wrongful Death Act and the Alabama Constitution. The ruling followed an incident where a patient of Mobile Infirmary crept into CRM, took frozen embryos out of cryopreservation and dropped them on the floor, killing them.
The three families who lost their embryos that day claimed the hospital and the clinic failed to protect their unborn children, and they filed wrongful death and negligence lawsuits.
In response to the Alabama Supreme Court decision, IVF clinics around the state paused operations until the legislature stepped in and passed a bill providing civil and criminal immunity to clinics for death or damage to embryos.
Still, Mobile Infirmary announced it is ending those therapies “in light of litigation concerns.” Following Mobile Infirmary's announcement that it would no longer participate in IVF therapy after the end of the year, people assumed that meant CRM was closing.
However, CRM is not closing. It is moving and expanding into state-of-the-art facilities in Daphne and Mobile. However, supporters have noticed false information being spread in news reports and on social media, which is creating fear among those who depend on the clinic.
“I think that maybe the people who are spreading the misinformation, making it kind of like a scare tactic, they’re trying to just push a certain narrative, and honestly, it's just not right,” said Tiffany Evans. “It's really not right the way that they did that.”
Evans and her husband were able to conceive and have their own baby girl after treatment at CRM. Success came years after trying to conceive on their own.
“They were just so empathetic and so personable during this whole experience,” Evans said. “It did not feel, even though it is a very clinical thing, it didn't feel cold and it didn't feel disconnected.”
Evans supports the clinic and says others she knows who are going through IVF have been scared after hearing about the case.
“It's just affecting a lot of people that I've met through the process,” Evans said. “And it's definitely very scary times, honestly. It's making people want to move; it's making people think about moving their stored embryos or doing treatments elsewhere in another place other than CRM, but CRM is the only one in South Alabama.”
The Evans family appreciated everything the clinic did for them and hoped more families can be blessed for years to come. She said their pregnancy was a special gift.
“They just really cared for us,” Evans said. “I remember after my daughter's embryo transfer, my husband and I were holding hands, and the doctor put his hand on ours and said, ‘Alright, now the real work begins.”
Evans said she hopes people realize CRM is in Alabama to stay because she is thankful to have a clinic so close.
“We're just honestly just really grateful for CRM, and we're just really glad that we were able to have success with our daughter.”
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email erica.thomas@1819news.com.
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