JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A Republican state legislator has filed a plan to protect in vitro fertilization procedures in Missouri following an Alabama court ruling that declared frozen embryos are unborn children.

State Rep. Bill Allen, a Kansas City Republican who narrowly unseated an incumbent Democrat two years ago, floated a measure Wednesday that would protect the "right to perform, and the right to receive, in vitro fertilization procedures and services in this state."

When the Senate gaveled into session later Wednesday, Sen. Tracy McCreery, D-Olivette, also proposed legislation to safeguard access to in vitro fertilization treatments.

The IVF procedure involves removing eggs from ovaries, fertilizing them to create embryos, then freezing the embryos after they have grown for several days. After an embryo is thawed, it is placed in a woman's uterus, where it may implant and create a pregnancy. IVF treatments are sought by some would-be parents who want to have biological children but have difficulty conceiving.

The Alabama Supreme Court decision, which held that frozen embryos are "extrauterine children," reverberated in Missouri where, according to state law, life begins at conception.

Missouri Republicans have moved swiftly to tamp down on concerns that the state's laws could move in the same direction as those in Alabama, where clinics have paused IVF treatments since the Feb. 16 ruling.

"I just wanted to be sure that we protect the right of women to use IVF for their families. If that's the right decision for them, we need to make sure that that right is protected," Allen said Wednesday.

McCreery said in a news release Missouri law "could be used to put fertility treatments at risk, which is why we need to make explicit exceptions to Missouri's 'life at conception' law for extra fertilized embryos created through IVF."

Republican House Majority Leader Jon Patterson, a Lee's Summit physician, told reporters Monday that "I strongly support IVF and it should be legal in Missouri, and I strongly support families being able to access IVF to have children."

But House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, a Springfield Democrat running for governor, has called the Alabama ruling "terrifying" and said it underscores the importance of the effort to restore reproductive health care rights in the state through a ballot initiative.

"We need to get politicians out of our doctor's offices and give this power back to the people where it belongs," she said.

In Missouri, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, a state law took effect that banned abortions except in medical emergencies.

The campaign Missourians for Constitutional Freedom is collecting signatures to reverse the ban with a measure that would create a right to abortion until the point of fetal viability, which a treating physician would determine.

The abortion-rights coalition's proposed constitutional amendment would create the right to "make and carry out decisions about all matters relating to reproductive health care," not limiting the measure to protect only abortions.

Introduction of the effort to protect IVF procedures came the same day House Republicans advanced legislation seeking to defund Planned Parenthood in Missouri. That measure still must receive another vote before heading to the Senate.

With most abortions illegal in Missouri, Planned Parenthood still provides abortions in bordering states such as Illinois and Kansas.

The measure voted on Wednesday goes after Medicaid funding for an "affiliate" of an abortion facility.

House Budget Chairman Cody Smith, a Carthage Republican running for state treasurer, is sponsoring the plan.

"We're trying to defund health care clinics that are not providing abortion services," said Rep. Keri Ingle, D-Lee's Summit.

She mentioned additional services Planned Parenthood provides, such as testing for sexually transmitted infections, breast cancer screenings and birth control.

"The General Assembly, Mr. Speaker, has attempted to restrict public funds from going to Planned Parenthood since the mid-'90s," said Rep. Ann Kelley, R-Lamar. "Well, the time is now that we must get this done."

Ingle, in her remarks on the House floor, suggested Republicans would pay a political price for the party's abortion policies at the ballot box this November.

"I am very aware that this is an election year, and I think a lot of you are too. So we can grandstand as much as we want about bills like this. But it won't matter after November," she said.

The legislation is House Bill 2845 and House Bill 2634.

(c)2024 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Visit the St. Louis Post-Dispatch at www.stltoday.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.