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VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., Feb. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Howard and Georgeanna Jones Foundation for Reproductive Medicine ("Jones Foundation") was founded by IVF pioneers Dr. Howard W. Jones, Jr. and Dr. Georgeanna S. Jones who established the first in vitro fertilization program in the United States, the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine, that was responsible for the first American born IVF baby in 1981, and training many of today's leaders in the field. Over 8 million IVF children have been born in the US since then.

Today, members of the Jones Foundation Board of Directors stand in disbelief at the February 16 ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court which states that frozen embryos are children under state law. "The ruling directly threatens Alabama reproductive medicine and infertility physicians and their patients. The IVF therapy patients need in order to have a baby may be eliminated in Alabama and jeopardized in other U.S. states. We must speak out and support reproductive medicine physicians and scientists and, especially, their patients." said Board member Georgeanna Jones Klingensmith, M.D., daughter of Drs. Howard and Georgeanna Jones.

"The ethical pursuit of IVF and Assisted Reproductive Technology advances was always at the heart of Dr. Jones' clinical and research efforts," said Susan L. Crockin, J.D., Board member and senior scholar at the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. "Throughout their illustrious careers they recognized the importance of understanding and using precise medical terminology as they worked toward advances. They urged law and policy makers to understand the facts and science behind any regulatory efforts, and emphasized the critical partnership and role of ethics alongside the advances and promises of IVF. Sadly, the Alabama court applied none of these nuanced perspectives in what can only be seen as an uninformed and disastrous perspective in the name of one religious perspective."

The Alabama ruling hampers dedicated and highly trained doctors from providing standard of care services needed by thousands of infertile patients to build their families. The reasoning of the opinion threatens to prevent scientific research to improve infertility treatments as investigators pause in fear of legal liability to determine the future of IVF protocols, and efforts to improve on them. 

This Foundation is dedicated to the advancement of science as we pursue excellence in research and education that might improve the human condition. The ruling in Alabama runs contrary to the accomplishments of giants Drs. Howard and Georgeanna Jones, to the mission of this organization and to the pledge we share for the improvement of in vitro fertilization technology and treatment.

Please consider supporting the Jones Foundation - dedicated exclusively to reproductive medicine's life-giving research and education. Visit www.jonesfound.org

About the Howard and Georgeanna Jones Foundation

The Howard and Georgeanna Jones Foundation for Reproductive Medicine is a 501(c)(3) organization that solicits funds from the general public to support scientific and medical research and education in the field of reproductive medicine. In addition to providing research grants to deserving scientific investigators, the Foundation Board of Directors is prepared to serve in an advisory capacity to the agencies it supports. The Foundation may also sponsor seminars or other educational activities designed to evaluate public policy issues related to reproductive medicine in order to educate the general public and attempt to improve the human condition.

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SOURCE The Howard and Georgeanna Jones Foundation for Reproductive Medicine