IVF Changed America. But Its Future Is Under Threat

In February, a horrified Elizabeth Carr scrolled through headline after headline about a pause on in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures in Alabama. The Alabama Supreme Court had ruled that frozen embryos have the legal rights of children, a decision that meant fertility providers could feasibly face prosecution if they destroyed one. Rather than take that risk, some fertility clinics halted IVF services entirely. Carr, who in 1981 became the first baby in the U.S. born using IVF, felt like “an endangered species.” When Carr was born, IVF—a process of fertilizing...