(The Center Square) – Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed a bill Thursday that protects in vitro fertilization by including it in state law.
Concerns about in vitro fertilization treatments were raised in 2024 after the Alabama Supreme Court declared that frozen embryos were human beings and that destroying them could constitute a wrongful death.
“We had to ensure that here in Georgia no family would ever have to question the access to IVF,” House Speaker Jon Burns said at the bill signing. “And that’s exactly what HB482 accomplishes.”
The bill was sponsored in the House by Rep. Lehman Franklin, R-Statesboro, who is expecting a child with his wife with the assistance of in vitro fertilization.
Other states have passed bills protecting in vitro fertilization since the Alabama ruling. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed the “Fertility Treatment and Contraceptive Protection Act” last week, which also included the right to contraceptives.
Kemp also signed a bill that would require health benefit policies to cover fertility preservation services when a treatment such as chemotherapy could cause infertility.
“A cancer diagnosis is scary enough without the thought that that treatment you need to save your life could also take away the ability for you to have children,” Kemp said. “This legislation ensures patients undergoing chemotherapy or other life saving treatments will not lose the chance to grow their family.”
A bill that would guarantee people with disabilities would be paid minimum wage was signed.
“Everyone deserves the chance to work and thrive and this bill ensures individuals with disabilities are properly compensated for that work,” Kemp said.
