At Savannah’s newly renovated convention center on Thursday Kemp signed a series of bill into law, many committed to “health and wellbeing.”
Included was House Bill 428, a bill that enshrines access to in vitro fertilization, and HB 94, which requires insurers cover IVF treatment when a medical diagnosis threatens fertility.
After the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are children, many states moved to protect IVF. Georgia’s bill to address the “uncertainty” passed almost unanimously after receiving bipartisan support.
“As a state we’re working to make it easier for families to grow,” Kemp said during the signing in Savannah. “And that’s what this legislation does.”
Kemp also signed Senate Bill 55, which will require people with disabilities get paid a minimum wage, HB 89 to ease access on records of maternal deaths, and HB 730 to grow Savanah’s services for the unhoused.
A bill proposed during the session, but that did not receive a vote, proposed that any abortions after an egg is fertilized be criminalized. Physicians and others testified such a policy could threaten IVF treatments, because sometimes fertilized embryos are allowed to be disposed of.
An executive order earlier this year from President Donald Trump said he would “ensure reliable access to IVF treatment, including by easing unnecessary statutory or regulatory burdens to make IVF treatment drastically more affordable.”
In April, staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researching IVF were cut amid sweeping reductions in force at the agency.
This article comes to Now Habersham in partnership with GPB News
