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Alabama lawmakers gave final approval Wednesday to legislation protecting in vitro fertilization providers and patients, less than a month after the state Supreme Court upended fertility practices with a ruling that frozen embryos are legally protected as children. Members of the House passed the bill 81-12, and the Senate voted to concur, 29-1. The bipartisan legislation provides civil and criminal immunity to fertility clinics and doctors for the "death or damage to an embryo" during the IVF process. (Hitson and Hagan, 3/6)

Two Alabama fertility clinics that paused in vitro fertilization services last month expect to resume them now that state lawmakers have passed a bill to protect doctors and clinics that discard embryos as part of routine IVF services. The bill "provides the protections that we need to start care — or resume care, really," said Dr. Janet Bouknight, an IVF provider at Alabama Fertility, which suspended IVF services Feb. 22 after the state Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are considered unborn children. (Harris and Bendix, 3/7)

Elizabeth Carr entered the world as a 5-pound, 12-ounce earthquake, making medical history and unleashing furious controversy in 1981 as the first American conceived in a lab. Born in Norfolk with a “Nova” documentary crew in the delivery room and armed guards in the hall, America’s first IVF baby is 42 today and no longer a novelty. But Carr still stands as potent symbol of that now-commonplace — but newly threatened — way to make a baby. And that’s why Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) has invited Carr to be his guest at Thursday’s State of the Union address. (Vozzella, 3/6)

President Joe Biden wants abortion rights to be a centerpiece of his rematch with Donald Trump this fall. Biden’s State of the Union speech on Thursday could reveal how he hopes to frame the debate. The Bidens have invited Kate Cox, the Texas woman at the center of a high-profile abortion case, as a guest — and the president is expected to highlight her story as he touts his executive actions to protect and expand access to abortion after the fall of Roe and slams Republicans for pushing restrictions at the state and federal levels. (Ollstein and Messerly, 3/7)