“It’s just frustrating, and it’s sad, and it’s heartbreaking,” Hardin said Thursday, the same day her clinic, Alabama Fertility Specialists, said it was temporarily stopping in vitro fertilization, or IVF, treatments because of legal risk. “I am a huge follower of Jesus,” said Hardin, who leads a group at her church for people who’ve had fertility issues. Those embryos are kept frozen in storage until they’re transferred in hopes of leading to a new pregnancy, or donated or discarded. The legal limbo has drawn the members of Hardin’s church group to lean on each other even more, she said. In July, she and her husband started the process for IVF, going through egg retrieval and freezing embryos, before she had hip surgery for a genetic condition.

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Persons: Paula Jean Hardin, Wes, Hardin, “ It’s, ” Hardin, Jay Mitchell, Tom Parker, ”, Jesus, who’ve, “, –, ” Lauren Pleitz, ” Pleitz, Pleitz, Dr, Sanjay Gupta, ” CNN’s Isabel Rosales, Amanda Musa Organizations: CNN, Alabama Fertility, University of Alabama, Center for Reproductive, CNN Health Locations: Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Birmingham