Kemp signs IVF protections into law
ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation Thursday codifying into state law the right of women struggling to get pregnant to receive in vitro fertilization.
House Bill 428, which the General Assembly passed with just one “no” vote, was among a half dozen health-care measures the governor signed during a ceremony at the Savannah Convention Center.
The legislation’s chief sponsor was Rep. Lehman Franklin, R-Statesboro, whose wife June received IVF treatment and is expecting a child next month.
“(Families) deserve to have the chance to experience this great gift from God,” Kemp said before signing the bill.
The legislation was prompted by an Alabama Supreme Court ruling last year that declared frozen embryos created through IVF must be treated as children. The decision essentially banned the procedure in that state until Alabama lawmakers passed a bill protecting IVF and Republican Gov. Kay Ivey quickly signed it.
“We needed to ensure that here in Georgia, no family would have to question accessibility to IVF,” said state House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, who made the IVF measure one of his top priorities for this year’s legislative session.
Other health-care bills the governor signed Thursday included:
- House Bill 94, which requires insurance companies to cover the costs of fertility preservation services when medically necessary treatments for cancer and other life-threatening diseases impairs fertility.
- House Bill 89, requiring health-care providers, hospitals, and pharmacies to release clinical records of certain deceased patients to the state’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee.
- House Bill 584, which transfers oversight of various mental-health programs from the Georgia Department of Community Health to the state Department of Behavioral Health and Development Disabilities.
- House Bill 473, an annual update of the list of controlled substances that are considered dangerous.
- Senate Bill 55, which provides a pay raise to Georgians with disabilities who are currently being paid subminimum wages.