make you cry ♪ [ cheering and applause ] this is "nightline." >> tonight, ivf under threat. the fight riling up the country. >> alabama is a pro-family state. this is not a pro-family ruling. i don't need the government now getting involved. >> shock and outage over the future of fertility in alabama. >> the impact is so far-reaching. first and for most, there are fewer babies in alabama. >> rachel scott chasing down lawmakers for answers as hopeful

parents to-be have ivf treatments canceled. >> at one point it wasn't fair. i just wanted my baby. i was heart brain. >> could other states follow. plus, emily blunt. >> can you explain quantum mechanics to me? it seems baffling. >> the oscar-nominated actress making history with "oppenheimer." >> it was the most heart stopping exhilarating script. >> director christopher nolan's no holds barred instructions on set. >> i was going to sort of fake hit him. and chris said just hit him. so i did. and "the devil wears prada" reunion. >> are you wearing the -- >> the chanel boots? yeah, i am. >> 18 years in the making at the s.a.g. awards. >> by all means, move at a glacial pace. you know how that thrills me. and sheer baseball. nike's major league uniforms. what players say they reveal too much of. >> "nightline" will be right back. arthritis i grab biofreeze. when i have pain from unlike voltaren, biofreeze provides fast-acting relief

i can apply it to more areas of my body. and it's nsaid-free. cool the pain so i can get back on the court. can neuriva support your brain health? mary, janet, hey!! (thinking: eddie, no frasier, frank... frank?) fred! how are you?! fred... fuel up to 7 brain health indicators, including your memory. join the neuriva brain health challenge. i see my husband... the father of our girls. i see a public servant. a man who served under secretary clinton in the state department... where he took on the epidemic of violence against women in the congo. i see a fighter, a tenacious problem-solver... who will go to congress and protect abortion rights and our democracy. because he sees a better future for all of us. i'm peter dixon and i approved this message.

good evening. thank you for joining us. tonight it's one of the most personal decisions we ever make, when and how to become parents. and for the thousands of americans with fertility issues, having a baby is dependent on ivf. now the state of alabama has become the center of a firestorm that some fear could have national implication.

here is abc's rachel scott. >> oh, this is a good one. >> you want to look at a picture from when you got to meet moana? >> yeah. this is our daughter's room that hopefully will be a nursery again one day in the future. we hope to bring another baby home here. >> there's moana. >> reporter: 35-year-old kimberly feels like time is running out. and every day that goes by, her frustration only grows. do you feel like there is a sense of urgency around this moment? >> yeah. you know, as you feel like there is a sense of urgency, not just for me, but for numerous other women. >> reporter: in a perfect world, kimberly should be just a few hours away from her fourth and final attempt at ivf, her last chance to get pregnant, but she is not after a number of fertility clinics in alabama all canceled procedures. do you feel like you are missing your final opportunity to possibly expand your family?

>> yeah. i will fight for this embryo. this embryo is coming home to us one way or another, whether it's here or it's somewhere else. i will do whatever i have to get this embryo. >> reporter: she is just one of potentially hundreds, even thousands of alabama women desperate for answers after the state supreme court issued an unprecedented ruling that frozen embryos are considered children. >> i definitely think that this ruling is a slap in the face. no one knows how to take care of their children better than a mama. >> reporter: now the growing backlash across the country, fears this could go beyond alabama. >> this is going to be the playbook. we are so concerned about the spillover into other states and how this particular ruling in alabama is going to set a precedent. >> how does someone else get to dictate what i say, what i want for my family? >> it's even more i think confusing now.

to be taking this medicine and doing all this work for nothing. >> honestly, the impact is so far-reaching. first and foremost, there are fewer babies in alabama. >> reporter: the pressure for answers in action, to get families back on track. >> we're pumped full of hormones. so we want to fight this and get to be able to have our children. >> you want to turn it around like that? >> reporter: you someone who has struggled with fertility for years. >> yeah. i've known since i was 20 years old infertility was most likely going to be an issue for me. i cannot meet you, my baby. >> reporter: in college, kimberly was diagnosed with stage 4 endometriosis. that meant getting pregnant naturally was virtually impossible. >> love always, mommy. >> my doctors and i have been working since 2008 to give my body the best chance at being able to build a family. >> reporter: she and her husband brandon reached out the alabama fertility and met dr. mamie mclean. >> ivf is our most successful treatment. it's a treatment that has been around for decades, and our

field has been able to perfect it. >> reporter: from a medical perspective, what is an embryo? >> an embryo is a fertilized egg. >> reporter: 238,000 families in the u.s. relying on ivf every year, often freezing multiple embryos to increase their chances of a successful pregnancy. >> tell what's you're doing. >> reporter: they had their first child in 2021. >> is that your favorite color today? ? >> reporter: and last year they decided to try again, but it became a year of heartbreak. >> losing a pregnancy for the first time is obviously going shake you and be difficult. when you look up the statistics, the chances of having two miss carriages back-to-back, low statistics. >> i'll be honest with you. i can't -- i can't really talk about it. >> it was hard and it was devastating. and the weeks after especially the second loss were extremely hard and devastating. >> reporter: and yet they were

determined. one more embryo, one more chance. the process is extensive, exhausting, and expensive. >> it's probably close to about $50,000, if you add up gas money, lost wages, et cetera. obviously that pushes it. >> reporter: everything was shaping up for round four, the transfer on track scheduled for tuesday when the news broke. >> the unprecedented ruling tonight. >> more clinics now pausing their ivf services. >> reporter: the decision stemmed from a case where three couples sued a clinic for wrongful death after their embryos were destroyed. the alabama supreme court ruled 8-1. the chief justice in his conquering opinion cited the bible, saying human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy god. >> whether we considered these embryos our babies and we feel a sense of responsibility to them, it was a sweeping decision. i just don't think the people understood all the consequences of what was happening.

>> reporter: within days, the university of alabama health system announced it would stop ivf treatments. the next day, dr. mclean and her partners came to the same heart-wrenching decision. >> we realized we had no other choice. my colleagues and i have not slept since this ruling came out. we're being physically affected by this ruling because of the stress and the anguish that's put on our patients. >> did you think about the impact that was going to have immediately? >> the very first conversation i had to have is with a long-time patient who has had two miscarriages over the past year. they have one embryo left. and she was prepped and ready. we had been working for three months to get to transfer, called her and had to tell her we had to cancel her transfer. >> we talked to kimberly. we know how desperately she wants this embryo. >> kimberly in particular began sobbing and said i just want my baby. i just want my baby. >> i have the clinic phone

number saved on my phone. a and the phone started ringing. it said alabama fertility specialists, and my heart sairngs t sank. >> that's when i pulled other and we went through the whole thing. >> your transfer is being canceled. you need to stop all of your medications. and, i mean, when she finally said the words is when it hit me. and i'm just sobbing in the back of the car. but i was just heartbroken. >> reporter: canceling the transfer is costly. not just in money, but in time lost. >> really, the biggest question is what should i do next. i don't have an answer for that. >> so this is my medication box. this is luperon, and this is a daily injection of luperon. this is my estrogen. and as always, in infertility, you have all your supplements. and typically, when i share with people what all goes into it, they're just shocked.

>> reporter: almost immediately, the national spotlight turned to alabama. >> embryos to me are babies. when you talk about an embryo, you are talking about to me that's a life. >> reporter: in an interview with nbc, republican candidate for president nikki haley referred to her own fertility journey, at first seeming to agree with the state court decision. but eventually said she supports fertility treatments. on friday, donald trump said he supports ivf and called on alabama lawmakers to find a way to preserve it. >> do you a moment to talk about the ivf ruling? >> reporter: today i went looking for tommy tuberville, the republican senator from alabama. >> i just came back from alabama. i talked to one woman. she is on her last embryo transfer. it was scheduled for tomorrow. and now she has to start all over. is that acceptable to you? >> not really, no. i want everybody who wants kids, they can't have it and that's the only way they can have it, i want to be i believe a to use it. >> to be clear, you think it's the wrong move?

>> wrong move by the supreme court, yeah. >> thank you so much for the interview, senator. >> reporter: vice president kamala harris put the blame squarely on the overturning of roe v. wade. >> the previous president of the united states was clear in his intention to hand-pick three supreme court justices who would overturn the protections of roe v. wade. and he did it. >> i don't know if it was the intended consequence of the case, but i do think it was an intended consequence of the overturn of roe v. wade. >> reporter: rebecca matthews is worried about the fallout from all of this. >> i do not think embryos are children. i think that embryos are the hope of a life. i think that embryos are the hope that you hold in your heart for your family, but i do not equate our embryo to my two children that i currently have. >> reporter: she also went to dr. mclean to expand her family. both her kids are ivf babies. >> isn't it ironic that we are in this place where this

community of families who want nothing more than to have a baby and to create life are being told that not only can they not create life, they're also being called murders. the people who want it more than anything in the world and would do just about anything for it are being told no. >> reporter: after spending more than $200,000 in ivf treatments and surrogacy, rebecca says her family is now complete. but she has one more embryo left in storage. but that's not free either. >> either leave them frozen forever or potentially risk criminal charges. alabama is a pro-family state. this is not a pro-family ruling. it is hard enough to figure out what we're going to do with our embryos when we're done family planning and when we're done having children without adding the government into the situation. >> reporter: the alabama attorney general says he will not prosecute ivf families, but that doesn't address the civil side of the law. the governor and state lawmakers

are working to come up with a solution, but that could take time, leaving so many families in limbo. >> my message is that we have to speak up. i never imagined that this would be our reality here. and we're concerned that this will happen in other states, which will threaten my field as well as future generations of americans. >> reporter: later this week, dr. mclean, rebecca, and kimberly will all head to montgomery to put more pressure on lawmakers at the state capitol the take action. >> it's going to be hard. until dr. mclean can call me and say kimberly, we're set, we're ready to go, it's going to be tough until then. >> with all that uncertainty, are you still hopeful? >> yeah, absolutely. i think i have to be hopeful, you know. i posted this morning on my social media that i was going on wednesday to montgomery, and i've had numerous people contact me wanting to go with me. we're going to find a solution to this. >> byron: our thanks to rachel. when we return, one-on-one with emily blunt, nominated for

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welcome back. final voting for the academy awards is under way. and emma blunt is very much in the mix for her role in "oppenheimer." that movie continuing its award season dominance, taking home a handful of s.a.g. awards and winning top prize, outstanding motion picture for cast.

>> reporter: on stage at last saturday's s.a.g. awards, a "the devil wears prada" reunion. s.a.g. nominee emma blunt alongside prada alum's meryl streep and anne hathaway. >> delighting the crowd with classic lines from the 2006 comedy. >> by all means, move at a glacial pace. >> you know how that thrills me. >> plenty of thrills these days for the british born favorite. her first oscar nomination ever comes for her supporting role in "oppenheimer," bio pic of the man who built the first atomic bomb. emma blunt giving a note perfect performance as oopie's brilliant troubled wife kitty, forced to endure the dignities of a mid century marriage, summing up her character's dilemma. >> going to waste at the ironing board. >> what do you mean by that? >> i think she was a woman who was meant for vast intellectual pursuits, and i think had to

contort herself to being a housewife. that brilliant brain went to waste in >> the loneliness of los alamos. >> you're the first woman to be nominated as an actor in a christopher nolan film circumstances that true? >> reporter: it all began when director nolan invited blunt to his home for a pressure-pack first read of his secret "oppenheimer" script. >> he was lurking in the next room. i'm going have to put together something very smart to say about this script. but it was heart racing. he hands it to you. i read it in his library. it was the most heart-stopping, exhilarating script. i think "oppenheimer" is maybe one of chris's most emotional movies. >> you don't get to commit the sin and have us all feel sorry for you that there are consequences. >> it almost read like a chase thriller, and i knew what was going to happen, but you still are fascinated with how they got

there. i had never read a script like that. >> reporter: time on the "oppenheimer" set with cillian murphy meant getting use to christopher nolan's use of imax cameras. they're loud? >> they're like chewbacca coming through the room. they're so loud. i think when you put the i'm max camera on killian's face and use his face as a landscape, you can't rip your eyes away from him, because you see every nuance, every ripple. >> reporter: at nolan's direction, blunt's character would cause a few additional ripples in kicillian. you're under a rock and fighting. and christopher nolan gives you a direction. slap hill. >> yeah. he'll be find, he said. and he was fine. but i was going to sort of fake hit him. and chris said just hit him. so i did. >> reporter: how many times? >> several. i think i left a mark on him by the end of it. but he was brave.

cillian's a tough cookie. >> reporter: kitty's cookie crumbles more than once beset by alcohol and her husband's remoteness. yet when he is under siege, she revives on his and a half with all of her brainpower engaged. it's one more example of emma blunt's remarkable talent. >> you sit there day after day, letting them pick our lives to pieces. i want you to fight. >> reporter: she is sort of the most honest person, really. and she's right. they kind of were a great team. >> byron: our thanks to chris. when we come back, those new nike baseball uniforms. what players say they don't cover. to help protect from hiv. i prep without pills. with apretude, a prescription medicine used to reduce the risk of hiv without daily prep pills. with one shot every other month, just 6 times a year. in studies, apretude was proven superior

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and finally tonight, major league baseball flying by the seat of its pants with new uniforms. >> the new pants are 100% see-through. >> you can see the nike logo of this guy's spandexin' his pants. >> players and fans in an uproar about what they say is too much

transparency. images going viral of players in see-through pants. the nike-designed uniforms made their debut at last year's all-star game. the mlb saying based on players question requests, adjustments are being made. nike says the quality of their product is the up most importance to them and they'll work the adjust the players' uniforms. with 30 days until the first pitch of opening day, we'll see. that's "nightline" for this evening. catch full episodes on hulu. we'll see you right back here same time tomorrow. thanks for the company, america. good night.