Last month, the Alabama Supreme Court stirred up massive controversy in the wake of a ruling that determined frozen embryos had the same rights as children. 

The ruling effectively shut down IVF treatments across the state, leaving families depending on the procedure in order to have children devastated, to say the least.

Former President Donald Trump was one of the first to criticize the ruling and called on the Alabama legislature to take action and overturn the ruling however possible.

According to Politico, it appears as if the backlash and national calls to do something about paid off, as the state legislature is now voting on a bill that would restore IVF access across the state.

What's happening?

Last Thursday, the GOP-controlled state legislature voted "to give doctors who provide in-vitro fertilization civil and criminal immunity for any death or damage to embryos."

Such a move will allow clinics that offer IVF services to reopen and resume operations without fear of criminal and civil consequences as a result of the state high court's recent ruling.

State Republican Rep. Terri Collins weighed in on the matter prior to the vote.

"My goal this week has been to try to find some compromise that would open our clinics for these families," Collins, a bill sponsor, said. "Do we need to have the longer discussion? Yes, we do."

Others, like Republican state Rep. Arnold Mooney, admitted that the topic is more complex in his opinion, and said the system was working "fine" before the Alabama Supreme Court's ruling. He abstained on the bill vote.

"To say that I’m a conflicted human being about this is just being dead honest that I don’t know the right answer to where we are," Mooney said. "I hate the fact that we have been put in a position to have to deal with something that wasn’t a problem. Things were working fine."

Other thoughts

Some state Republicans fear that such legislation will open the door for the pro-abortion progressive left to exploit it, which would interfere with Alabama's strict abortion laws.

"Alabama is probably one of the most pro-life states in the nation, and we can’t allow anything to interfere with our pro-life standard," Republican state Rep. Mark Gidley said.

Republican state Rep. Ernie Yarbrough took his concerns even further and voted against the legislation.

"What I had learned and read up to yesterday had me very concerned that the Alabama Supreme Court, in a state whose official position is pro-life and therefore defends that life begins at fertilization, could have possibly, I don’t know, but possibly uncovered a silent Holocaust going on in our state," Yarbrough said.