Republican lawmaker says Kentucky's newly passed shield bill protects IVF services

A Republican lawmaker in Kentucky says a bill shielding doctors and other health providers from criminal liability is broad enough to apply to in vitro fertilization services. State Sen. Whitney Westerfield made the comments Friday as the bill won final passage. The measure now goes to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear. Westerfield says the bill's definition of health care providers is broad enough to apply to IVF services. In vitro fertilization emerged as a political issue in February after an Alabama Supreme Court ruling found that in wrongful death lawsuits in that state, embryos outside the uterus had the same legal protections as children.