NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The journey to becoming parents can be long and it just got longer for some Middle Tennessee families.
The Nashville Center for Reproductive Health just shut down abruptly, and now dozens of women undergoing fertility treatments are scrambling to get some answers.
On Thursday, the staff received a letter reading in part "Unforeseen circumstances have led to a financial deficit.. Regrettably, you will not receive your paychecks tomorrow."
On Monday, I had a brief conversation with Dr. Jaime Vasquez who runs the clinic. He said he would be back in touch after speaking to a healthcare attorney. As of Tuesday afternoon, I have not received a comment.
So many women reached out to me after my first story aired. But like them, when I call the office, no one answers.
I went to NewsChannel 5 legal analyst Nick Leonardo to talk about what's at stake.
"Obviously, the letter says they're going to do all they can and they have to under the law to preserve these things, but it's very unnerving and unsettling because you don't know what the future is going to hold in this post-Roe world," said Nick Leonardo.
Mothers, like Chelsea Morris, who had one baby with the help of the fertility clinic, want to make sure their embryos are safe.
"To have something like this happen... where that hope is really taken away very abruptly it is incredibly irresponsible and it's a horrible thing to go through," Chelsea Morris said. "It's a nightmare."
We think it's important to follow up on this story because fertility treatments are very personal and time-sensitive. If you want to share your story, email hannah.mcdonald@newschannel5.com.
According to Leonardo, because of the Alabama IVF case, which made it to that state's supreme court and ended with a ruling that embryos created through IVF should be considered children, this local situation is complicated.
"This set of facts right here, if litigated, could be enough to get in front of our Tennessee State Supreme Court to see if they were going to file suit like they have in Alabama," Leonardo said.
Watch the first story below.
There are still so many families in East Tennessee hurting following the floods from Hurricane Helene in September. That made this year's running of the Santa Train extra special for many families in the northeast part of the state. This special Santa Express has been making an annual run in part of Appalachia for over 80 years.
-Lelan Statom
