The decision by the Alabama Supreme Court last month raised concerns about civil liabilities for clinics and prompted an outcry from patients and other groups. Three major IVF providers paused services.

The new law protects providers from lawsuits and criminal prosecution for the “damage or death of an embryo” during IVF services.

Republicans in the state Legislature proposed the lawsuit immunity as a way to get clinics reopened. They refused, however, to take up a bill that would address the legal status of embryos.

The state’s three major IVF providers paused services after the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling last month.

The decision prompted an outcry from groups across the country. Patients in Alabama also shared stories about having upcoming embryo transfers abruptly canceled and their paths to parenthood put in doubt.

“I’m just elated to get these ladies back on schedule,” said Republican Sen. Tim Melson, the bill sponsor.

The state Supreme Court ruled that three couples who had frozen embryos destroyed in an accident at a storage facility could pursue wrongful death lawsuits for their “extrauterine children.” The ruling, treating an embryo the same as a child or gestating fetus under the wrongful death statute, raised concerns about civil liabilities for clinics.

Republicans in the GOP-dominated Alabama Legislature looked to the immunity proposal as a solution to clinics’ concerns. But they have shied away from proposals that would address the legal status of embryos created in IVF labs.

House Democrats proposed legislation last week stating that a human embryo outside a uterus can not be considered an unborn child or human being under state law. Democrats argued that was the most direct way to deal with the issue. Republicans have not brought the proposal up for a vote.

Lawmakers pushed the immunity proposal as a way to address clinic’s immediate concerns and get them open. But they did not take up any legislation that would address the legal status of embryos.

“I think there is too much difference of opinion on when actual life begins. A lot of people say conception. A lot of people say implantation. Others say heartbeat. I wish I had the answer,” Melson said. Melson, who is a doctor, said lawmakers may have to come back with additional legislation but said he said it should be based on “science not feelings.”

The court ruled that three couples whose frozen embryos were destroyed when a hospital patient got into the storage unit at a fertility clinic and dropped the embryos could pursue wrongful death lawsuits for their “extrauterine children.” The ruling, treating an embryo the same as a child or gestating fetus under the wrongful death statute, raised concerns about civil liabilities for clinics. A fourth couple filed a similar wrongful death lawsuit last week.

The court ruling recognizing embryos as children drew a backlash and patients saw appointments abruptly canceled or their paths to parenthood put in doubt.

The bill says that “no action, suit, or criminal prosecution for the damage to or death of an embryo shall be brought or maintained against any individual or entity when providing or receiving services related to in vitro fertilization.” The immunity would be retroactive but would exclude pending litigation. Civil lawsuits could be pursued against manufacturers of IVF-related goods, such as the nutrient-rich solutions used to grow embryos, but damages would be capped and criminal prosecution would be forbidden.

Dr. Michael C. Allemand with Alabama Fertility said Tuesday that the legislative proposal would allow the clinic to resume IVF services by returning “us to a normal state of affairs in terms of what the liability issues are.”

He said the past weeks have been difficult on patients and staff as procedures have been postponed.

“There’s been some truly heart-wrenching conversations that have taken place,” Allemand said.

The American Society for Reproductive Medicine, a group representing IVF providers across the country, said the legislation does not go far enough. Sean Tipton, a spokesperson for the organization, said Monday that the legislation does not correct the fundamental problem, which he said is the court ruling “conflating fertilized eggs with children.”

House Democrats proposed legislation that would put in state law or the state Constitution that a human embryo outside a uterus cannot be considered an unborn child or human being under state law. Democrats argued that was the most direct way to deal with the issue. Republicans have not brought the proposals up for a vote.

Republicans are also trying to navigate tricky political waters — torn between widespread popularity and support for IVF — and conflicts within their own party. Some Republicans have unsuccessfully sought to add Louisiana-style language to ban clinics from destroying unused or unwanted embryos.

State Republicans are reckoning with an IVF crisis they partly helped create with anti-abortion language added to the Alabama Constitution in 2018. The amendment, which was approved by 59% of voters, says it is state policy to recognize the “rights of unborn children.”

The phrase became the basis of the court’s ruling. At the time, supporters said it would allow the state to ban abortion if Roe v. Wade were overturned, but opponents argued it could establish “personhood” for fertilized eggs.

During debate in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, state Rep. Chris England, a Democrat from Tuscaloosa, said lawmakers were attempting to play “lawsuit whack-a-mole” instead of confronting the real issue — the implications of personhood-like language in the Alabama Constitution.

“The real solution to this is determining the definition of a child and having a real conversation about the implications of some of the decisions we’ve made,” England said.

After a series of decisive early Republican primary wins for Donald Trump and with President Biden facing no serious Democratic challenger, Super Tuesday looks like it will be super-predictable.

But there’s a lot riding on the outcome for both candidates, who face major challenges on the way to the November general election.

Biden is hoping to energize his campaign amid persistent questions about whether the 81-year-old is too old for the job. He’ll have a chance to do so during his State of the Union address, which falls on Thursday.

About six in 10 people who voted for Biden in 2020 now say he’s too old to be effective, according to results of a headline-making New York Times/Siena College poll released over the weekend.

Far fewer Trump supporters — only 14% — said the same thing about him, though he’s just four years younger than Biden.

“He’s aged a lot. With the exception of Trump, every president seems to age a lot during their presidency,” one independent voter told The Times.

The issue has even surfaced on “Saturday Night Live.” During this weekend’s cold open, cast members depicting Biden allies made exaggerated claims about his vigor, drawing laughs.

The president has bristled at criticism about his fitness for office, saying at a February press conference, “I know what the hell I’m doing.”

Amid his Manhattan fraud trial and unprecedented criminal investigations, Trump has managed to finish off all the competition in the GOP presidential contest except for former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

But after his latest wins, including in her home state, she’s widely expected to exit the race before long.

Trump’s campaign expects to lock down the 1,215 delegate votes required for the Republican nomination by March 19 at the latest, according to The Hill.

Haley hasn’t quit yet, though, recently arguing to voters in Colorado that Trump can’t win the general election.

In the same state, Biden is facing another campaign for Dems to vote “noncommitted” this Tuesday in protest of his stance on Israel’s war on Hamas, according to Axios. Last week in Michigan, over 100,000 Democrats voted that way.

Amid a climbing death toll in Gaza and growing outrage over civilian casualties, Biden has been calling for a ceasefire, so far unsuccessfully.

“It is time for the president to use all the levers that he has to get a long-term ceasefire. I think if that ceasefire doesn’t come in, it’s in Israel’s interest for them to pause military activity to solve the humanitarian crisis,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”

“But to the extent the president is using additional leverage on Israel, he should do that for national security reasons, not for political reasons,” he added.

Super Tuesday will see voting in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Virginia, plus the territory of American Samoa.

The Biden campaign expects to benefit once the race is down to just him and Trump, hoping voters will again see the Dem as the trustworthy choice, The Hill noted.

First Lady Jill Biden went on the attack against Trump on Friday in Atlanta, giving a preview of her role on the campaign trail, according to CNN.

“I’ve been so proud of how Joe has placed women at the center of his agenda. But Donald Trump?” the outlet quoted her as saying.

“He spent a lifetime tearing us down and devaluing our existence. He mocks women’s bodies, disrespects our accomplishments and brags about assault. Now he’s bragging about killing Roe v. Wade.”

For his part, Trump has repeated the kind of outlandish statements that characterized his 2016 and 2020 runs.

“Biden’s conduct on our border is by any definition a conspiracy to overthrow the United States of America,” he said Saturday in Greensboro, N.C., according to The Washington Post. “He talks about democracy. He is a danger to democracy.”

Alpha Diallo, 28, had just hung up the phone with his sibling when, according to police, he was shot in the right arm as a fight between groups of teens spiraled out of control at the Mount Eden Ave. station around rush hour.

The sister, who didn’t want her name published, said she’d been speaking with her brother to make sure he got on the right train to Harlem just before the mayhem began.

Diallo quickly called her back, the sister said.

“He didn’t know he was shot,” she recounted. “He thought his hand had touched something electric.”

“He was screaming, crying, holding his hand,” the sibling added.

Panic and confusion set in as other victims reeled from gunshot wounds and crowds scrambled out of the station.

“He said, ‘Oh, I’m bleeding!'” Diallo’s sister recalled. “But he didn’t know where the blood was coming from. He was in shock.”

The man was one of three victims taken to St. Barnabas Hospital. While Diallo was in stable condition, one of the other victims, a 35-year-old man, was pronounced dead there, according to police.

Diallo’s call with his sibling got cut off, leaving her in a state of panic. Authorities later called her family and said the man had been taken to a hospital but didn’t say which one. They split up and tried several sites before tracking him down, according to the sister.

Diallo’s relatives gathered in a St. Barnabas waiting room on Monday night.

About six hours into their wait, they were yet to see the victim or get an update on his condition from medical professionals.

Diallo’s sister remained distraught as she waited.

“I was shocked. I was scared,” she said.

“Curtis said that the man was a migrant and that he was shoplifting. Fox News has since spoken to the NYPD. Apparently the statement made by Curtis that the man is a migrant is not true and the man was given a summons for disorderly conduct,” Hannity said Thursday night.

In the middle of a Tuesday interview with Hannity, Sliwa stunningly directed the camera to a takedown of a man in the middle of Times Square, saying the target was a “migrant” and a “shoplifter” — claims the NYPD later refuted, explaining that the man was a 22-year-old Bronxite who had done no shoplifting. He still received a summons for disorderly conduct.

“On this show, we always want to set the record straight,” Hannity said Thursday night.

Sliwa admitted to the Daily News earlier Thursday that he’d been wrong about details of his initial accusations, but newly claimed the 22-year-old had punched a female member of his vigilante group in the breast.

That member filed a harassment complaint against the 22-year-old at the NYPD’s Midtown South Precinct on Thursday night, records showed.

Prior to that, a cop source told The News that Sliwa had been completely off the mark during Hannity’s Tuesday show.

Surveillance and bodycam footage show the 22-year-old was simply trying to make his way through Times Square at the time of the confrontation, the source said, adding that Sliwa was “just babbling” when he made the initial allegations.

Video contradicts Curtis Sliwa account of Guardian Angels ‘migrant’ beating of Bronx man on Fox News: NYPD source

Sliwa did not immediately answer a News request for comment on the Hannity correction late Thursday.

Meir — whose luxury real-estate company HFZ Capital Group collapsed amid plans to build $2 billion luxury towers near the High Line — was set to be extradited to New York after being arrested in Miami earlier this week.

Four of Meir’s alleged accomplices were arraigned Wednesday in Manhattan Supreme Court.

Roy Galifi, John Mingione and Kevin Stewart — executives with a construction company that worked with Meir — were accused of grand larceny, conspiracy and criminal possession of stolen property and falsifying business records, charges they denied.

Meir’s colleague Anthony Marrone was hit with the same charges and pleaded not guilty.

Meir, 49, is accused of orchestrating schemes that ripped off $86 million from investors, contractors and the city, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

An ambitious project to build a mega-development near the High Line allegedly warped into a hotbed of fraud and theft under Meir’s leadership of HFZ, where he was the managing director.

He allegedly used funds intended for the project covering a whole square block of Chelsea — from W. 17th to W. 18th Sts. and 10th to 11th Aves. — to shore up HFZ’s other struggling projects. Meir and his accomplices hid the fraud through phony invoices and forged bank statements, prosecutors said.

In all, $37 million was allegedly stolen as the project reportedly went into foreclosure in 2021. Other developers took over and opened it as One High Line last year.

Similar schemes played out involving projects from Midtown to San Francisco, according to Bragg’s office.

All told, the frauds entailed over $86 million in stolen funds, prosecutors said. That included $15 million in city property taxes that allegedly went unpaid.

Meir was reportedly arrested at a swanky Miami hotel on Monday.

It marked a stunning fall from grace for a man who’d stood out for his aggressive approach in the city’s cutthroat real-estate business, according to Curbed.

“These indictments depict allegations of widespread fraud within the real estate industry primarily spearheaded by one man: Nir Meir,” Bragg said in a statement.

Along with the six men, HFZ and an affiliate plus the construction company, Omnibuild, were hit with charges. The businesses pleaded not guilty.

“Even though Omnibuild is in the same indictment as HFZ, three counts of that indictment allege that HFZ stole from Omnibuild and others,” an Omnibuild spokesperson said in a statement.

“This is in addition to the three other indictments charging HFZ alone. We reiterate that Omnibuild is a victim of, and not acting in concert with, HFZ.”

The construction company previously filed a lien against HFZ saying it was owed $100 million in unpaid bills, according to The Real Deal.

Following Wednesday’s arraignments, Stewart, 48, was released without bail, Galifi, 62, paid $100,000 bail, Mingione, 54, coughed up $500,000 to be freed and Marrone’s wife promised to pay his $300,000 bail.

An additional defendant, former HFZ project manager Louis Della-Peruta, 69, was expected to surrender to authorities on Thursday.

Meir himself is set to appear in court later this month, prosecutors said.

“There will be more action taken to respond to the … tragic death of the three brave U.S. service members,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on ABC’s “This Week,” referring to Iran-backed militias’ deadly drone strike in Jordan late last month.

“We have to prepare for every contingency,” he continued. “And I would just say, from the perspective of Tehran, if they chose to respond directly to the United States, they would be met with a swift and forceful response from us.”

The comments came after the U.S. and U.K. struck militants in Yemen for the third time in two weeks on Saturday. They were targeting drones, radar facilities and weapon launchers that Iran-backed Houthis have used to attack military and commercial ships in the Red Sea since Israel launched its war on Hamas. The militants say they’re attacking the vital route out of solidarity with Gazans.

From the start of Israel’s fierce response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, Washington has feared the prospect of a wider conflict in the Middle East. President Biden has insisted he doesn’t want that.

Pressed on the Iran question on Sunday, Sullivan told NBC’s “Meet the Press,” “I’m not going to get into what we’ve ruled in and ruled out from the point of view of military action.”

“The president is determined to respond forcefully to attacks on our people,” he added. “The president also is not looking for a wider war in the Middle East.”

With some Republican hawks calling for U.S. strikes within Iran, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said the White House should take a tougher approach to the regional power.

“We should not be appeasing Iran. That’s what the Biden administration has been doing for the last three years. We are projecting weakness on the world stage,” he said on “Meet the Press,” adding that the U.S. should “decimate the Iran Central Bank,” among other steps.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has been leading the chorus of Republican hawks.

“If the goal is to deter Iran, you’re failing miserably. If the goal is to protect American troops, you’re not achieving your goal,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Biden wouldn’t need congressional authorization to target Iran, he added.

“President Biden has all the authority … to protect troops in the field,” the senator said.

Meanwhile, U.S. aid to Israel and other causes has been stalling in Congress.

After a Republican bill that both gave billions to Israel and cut the IRS budget died in the Democrat-controlled Senate in November, Johnson is promising new legislation with no such cuts.

The $17.6 billion price tag actually marks more funding than Biden previously requested. But Dems have been trying to push through funding for multiple causes, like supporting Ukraine, all at once.

“This partisan bill provides no funding for Ukraine to defend itself against Putin’s aggression, the Indo-Pacific, humanitarian assistance for Palestinian civilians, or border security,” House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) emailed Dems on Sunday, according to Axios.

“The White House is strongly opposed to this bill,” she added.

With News Wire Services

Andre Eugene, 36, was held in custody following a Thursday arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court on charges of second-degree murder and aggravated cruelty to animals.

He allegedly killed Donna Hyman, 58, in her Starrett City apartment last Friday.

Eugene’s merciless stabbing targeted her heart and airways, causing her death, Brooklyn prosecutors said.

The woman’s poor dog Gigi was apparently tossed from the 11th-floor scene of the carnage, with a veterinarian later determining the pooch suffered stab wounds all over its body, according to the criminal complaint.

Officers responding to a 911 call at the building on Hornell Loop near Pennsylvania Ave. found Eugene, a public school paraprofessional, naked and covered in blood in the lobby around 7 p.m., authorities previously said.

He claimed to cops that Hyman had “committed suicide” and that the dog had fallen “from the balcony,” the complaint stated.

Officers found Eugene stabbed in the chest — wounds police believe to have been self-inflicted.

“His story is that the dog bit him, he stabbed the dog, [and] mom stabbed him,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny previously said at a news briefing.

Eugene was immediately suspended from his paraprofessional job at a Williamsburg public school, according to the Department of Education.

Naomi Broomes, 33, was remanded on charges of second-degree murder and failure to report the incident following her arraignment over the Jan. 11 death of Shakira Serrano, 24.

A criminal complaint described a vicious attack outside NYCHA’s Pink Houses in East New York, where Serrano lived.

Broomes repeatedly tried to run over the victim and, once her target fell to the ground, drove her vehicle “over Serrano’s entire body,” according to witnesses and recordings cited in the complaint. Video previously obtained by the Daily News showed the car was a mid-size sedan.

Broomes, who also lives in the Pink Houses, drove off while the victim lay on the ground, the complaint stated. Suffering from “severe head and body trauma,” Serrano was taken to Brookdale University Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Serrano had been arguing with her boyfriend prior to the incident, surveillance video showed.

He has not been charged with a crime. Details of the relationship between the two women remain unclear.

A lawyer for Broomes could not immediately be reached. The defendant was expected back in court later this month.

With Rocco Parascandola

Seattle man David Crowe, 33, was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on a charge of second-degree criminal contempt.

That charge — stemming from his arrest outside Swift’s house on Wednesday — sits on top of earlier counts of stalking and harassment brought after Crowe was nabbed on Saturday and on Monday in separate approaches to the home.

Judge Marisol Martinez Alonso ordered Crowe to jail under a New York law meant to protect crime victims from people who violate court orders. He was also ordered to undergo a psychiatric exam requested by his defense lawyer.

As officers led him from the courtroom on Thursday afternoon, Crowe started mumbling something which was not very clear but ended with the word “survival.”

He wore a beige hoodie that had the words “Love does not just sit there” printed at the back.

Crowe had been released from custody Wednesday after he was arraigned on charges of trying to break into Swift’s Franklin St. apartment on Monday.

Immediately upon his release, he walked 10 minutes from the courthouse back to the pop star’s pad, where he was seen acting erratically, according to police sources.

Prosecutors say that by returning to Swift’s house, Crowe made clear he was unable to obey a court order.

Crowe’s visits to Swift’s house since Saturday were not his first.

A security worker at Swift’s building previously told police he encountered Crowe there around 30 times between Nov. 25 and Monday, hoping to speak to the “Bad Blood” singer, and was told to leave at least 10 times, according to a criminal complaint.

The incidents included a Saturday episode in which cops found Crowe at the address, gave him a summons and sent him to Brooklyn Criminal Court to answer an outstanding warrant from several years ago, a police source previously told the Daily News.

Swift has been victimized by a crazed fans and stalkers for years.

In July 2022, 35-year-old Joshua Christian of Brooklyn allegedly shouted threats into the intercom at Swift’s Tribeca townhouse, warning that he would “hurt her if they weren’t together,” a police source said.

Other incidents involved a “super-fan” in 2021, a stalker in 2019 and a musician looking for career help in 2016.

Stalkers have also tried to get into Swift’s other properties, including her home in Beverly Hills and her mansion in Rhode Island.

With the Council poised to override his Friday veto of the legislation, which is intended to increase transparency around police stops, Adams announced the offer on Sunday, apparently hoping to chip away at the bill’s strong support.

“This bill will force these officers to spend far too much time filling out paperwork,” the mayor said at a City Hall press conference, repeating his main criticism of the “How Many Stops Act.”

“We want them to ride with a police officer, go listen to these calls and these jobs that are coming over the radio, see what it is to respond to these jobs,” he said of Council members and citywide elected officials. “This is a moment when we must be on the ground and see the realization of any form of legislation that’s coming out of our city government.”

The “How Many Stops Act,” which passed the Council last month, lays out three levels of police encounters for which cops would have to document their interactions with the public. Supporters said the law would prevent the return of the kind of biased law enforcement the city saw during the Bloomberg-era peak of stop-question-and-frisk policing.

Council leaders vowed Friday to quickly override the mayor, who vetoed both the “How Many Stops” bill and a ban on solitary confinement in city jails.

In a Sunday invite sent to lawmakers, the Adams administration said pols who take him up on his offer to go on police ride-alongs would receive bulletproof vests for the four-hour-long sessions. At the end of the day, they’ll be invited to half-hour conversations at Police Headquarters, an “opportunity to reflect on their experience on the front lines with the NYPD,” the invite said.

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, co-sponsor of the “How Many Stops” legislation, slammed Adams’ press conference as “grotesque.”

“Mayor Adams is threatening the long-term safety of our city every time he speaks about the imaginary legislation he opposes,” Williams, a Democrat, said in a statement.

“Today’s press conference was a grotesque example of the mayor hiding behind the pain and fears of people he misinforms and manipulates. The weakness and shamelessness on display is astonishing,” he added.

At the Sunday press conference, Adams said the “only part” of the “How Many Stops” bill he objected to was language about the lowest level of stops, “level one,” which he says would necessitate more documentation than supporters of the legislation have indicated.

Williams and Council spokesman Mandela Jones rejected the criticism.

“Nearly all of their feedback and suggested language changes were accepted, except for their repeated attempts to entirely exempt Level 1 encounters,” Jones said in a statement.

“We repeatedly told them we would not completely exempt Level 1 investigative encounters, but were open to considering specific exemptions and encouraged them to offer ones. They never did,” the spokesman added.

Adams, a Dem who won office on a tough-on-crime platform, also doubled down on his opposition to the solitary-confinement ban, insisting that the practice does not take place in city jails and noting a federal monitor overseeing the jails previously came out against the legislation.

Supporters of the ban say Adams’ claims about the use of solitary are false. Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (D-Queens) promised last week to override the mayoral veto on that bill, too.

With Chris Sommerfeldt