More than 2% of 3.7 million babies born in the US in 2019 were conceived through in vitro fertilisation, the latest federal data show. Many embryos created through IVF aren't viable, fertility specialists said, and those that aren't ultimately transferred into a uterus may be discarded.

Some fertility and legal experts said the loss or discarding of embryos could be criminalised by statutes that ban abortion from the moment of fertilisation, or that grant personhood rights to embryos.

"There could be unintended consequences on IVF from these laws aimed at restricting abortions," said Alan Penzias, a reproductive endocrinologist at Boston IVF, a Massachusetts fertility company, and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School. Read more