Medical providers and fertility patients in Alabama have been left in uncertainty after a court ruled that frozen embryos are considered children.
At least three fertility facilities have since paused new IVF treatments over concerns of "legal risk".
"There is an emotional side to this, and I don't think the law should be based on those emotions," one Alabama mother said.
The ruling opens up a new front in the US battle over reproductive medicine.
It is not yet clear what the impact might be in other parts of the country.
The Alabama Supreme Court ruling, which came down on Friday, was prompted by three couples who filed a case after their embryos were accidentally destroyed in an incident in 2020.
A patient wandered into the part of a fertility clinic where the embryos being stored, handled them, and accidentally dropped them.
The ruling did not ban or restrict IVF and in fact, the couples who brought the case actively sought out the procedure.
But experts say the decision may cause confusion about whether some aspects of IVF are legal under Alabama law - and over how to use and store embryos.
President Joe Biden weighed in on Alabama's decision, saying it puts "some fertility treatments at risk for families who are desperately trying to get pregnant".
"The disregard for women's ability to make these decisions for themselves and their families is outrageous and unacceptable," he said in a statement. "This is a direct result of the overturning of Roe v Wade."
