In vitro fertilization procedures have been put on pause at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, following a controversial new ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court that embryos are considered “children” under state law. The court ruled that the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act applies to all children “regardless of their location” in or outside of a mother’s uterus. This ruling opens up medical professionals responsible for carrying out IVF procedures and their patients to a slew of potential legal challenges and difficulties. “We must evaluate the potential that our patients and our physicians could be prosecuted criminally or face punitive damages for following the standard of care for IVF treatments,” said Hannah Echols, a spokeswoman for UAB, which is the first clinic in the state to pump the brakes on IVF procedures following the new rule. Anti-abortion activists in Florida are already trying to use the neighboring state’s new definition to stop a bill that would enshrine abortion protections into state law.