The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that frozen embryo are children in state law
An Alabama woman’s lawsuit against the state’s wrongful death of a minor law: “life is a child and a clump of cells”
Mary Ziegler: Absolutely. Three couples went to the Mobile, Alabama, clinic for in vitro fertilization treatment. And at a point in 2020, a hospital patient — the hospital was operated by the same clinic — entered the place where frozen embryos were stored, handled some of the embryos, burned his hand, dropped the embryos and destroyed them. And this led to a lawsuit from the three couples. One theory they had was that the state’s Wrongful Death of a minor law meant that those frozen embryos were treated as children or persons. The Alabama Supreme Court agreed with them on Friday.
Many other states have passed similar legislation, but no other has defined life as beginning at conception.
The ruling stated that the fertilized egg is a person and that there is a clump of cells. Barbara Collura, CEO of RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, told The AP Tuesday that it puts into question the practice of inscrimination. The group called the decision a “terrifying development for the 1-in-6 people impacted by infertility” who need in-vitro fertilization.
Sean Tipton, a spokesman with the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, said at least one Alabama fertility clinic has been instructed by their affiliated hospital to pause IVF treatment in the immediate wake of the decision.
Gabby Goidel, 26, who is pursuing IVF treatment in Alabama after three miscarriages, said the court ruling came down on the same day she began daily injections ahead of egg retrieval.
It took me by surprise. It was like all I could think about and it was just a very stressful thing to hear. I messaged my clinic, asking if there was any chance of it stopping us. Goidel said that they had to take it one day at a time.
Michael Upchurch, a lawyer for the fertility clinic in the lawsuit, Center for Reproductive Medicine, said they are “evaluating the consequences of the decision and have no further comment at this time.”
The anti-abortion group was happy with the decision. Live Action’s president and founder, Lila Rose, stated in a statement that ” each person has incalculable value that deserves and is guaranteed legal protection.”
Chief Justice Tom Parker issued a concurring opinion in which he quoted the Bible in discussing the meaning of the phrase “the sanctity of unborn life” in the Alabama Constitution.
Justice Greg Cook, who filed the only full dissent to the majority opinion, said the 1872 law did not define “minor child” and was being stretched from the original intent to cover frozen embryos.
Supporters at the time said it would have no impact unless states gained more control over abortion access. In the year 2022, states gained control of abortion access.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the Alabama decision reflected the consequences of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and blamed Republican elected officials from blocking access to reproductive and emergency care to women.
“This president and this vice president will continue to fight to protect access to reproductive health care and call on Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade in federal law for all women in every state,” Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One.
An Alabama woman’s attorney’s lawyer’s suit against a fertilized egg and a freeze-in-a-fridge abortion clinic
Critics have long urged the state legislature to spell out exactly who falls under the state’s wrongful death statute. It’s clear the state’s Supreme Court says life begins at fertilization and that it doesn’t matter whether that life is in a woman’s uterus or in a freezer in a fertility clinic.
In other words, anyone who’s been following Alabama’s abortion debate should have seen it coming in a state where prosecutors have arrested pregnant women for engaging in behaviors like taking drugs that could be harmful to a fetus. Alabama doesn’t allow for exceptions for rape or incest.
No other state has given personhood rights to all fertilized eggs. And even in states that allow the prosecution of women who put the health of their fetuses at risk, most do not apply that prosecution statute to pregnancies before the 24th week. The age at which a fetus is considered to be able to live outside the womb is the onemost doctors consider.
The security of the hospital that was storing the frozen embryos went wrong, according to what happened in this case. A random patient gained access to the lab and dropped the embryos, which were destroyed.
Three couples who were upset when their embryos were destroyed are now filing a lawsuit that could make it more difficult for Alabmians who are trying to conceive naturally.
The legal implications for how inseminated is performed is explained by UC Davis professor of law Mary Ziegler.
Where does the next Roe v. Wade go? Why does the Alabama Supreme Court decide to rule against fetus and embryonal infertility?
Ziegler: The Alabama Supreme Court framed its decision in a way that made it low. It was grounded firmly in Alabama state constitutional law. I think that this ruling could have some impact on the US Supreme Court, but it is not likely to be appealed directly.
Ziegler: I think there’s been a broader strategy — the sort of next Roe v. Wade, if you will — for the anti-abortion movement. It is a recognition that a fetus or embryo is a person for all purposes, particularly for the purposes of the federal constitution. This isn’t a case about the federal constitution, but I think that will encourage the anti- abortion movement to make a gradual case against abortion in more and more states. The more compelling is their argument that a fetus is a rights holder and that liberal abortion laws or state abortion rights are impermissible.
Ziegler: Well, if Alabama IVF providers feel obligated to implant every embryo they create, that’s likely to both reduce the chances that any IVF cycle will be successful. It could make it a lot more expensive. IVF is already very expensive. It is thought that the average cost for an IVF cycle is between $15,000 and $20,000. Many patients don’t work with infertility treatment after one cycle. But if you were not allowed to create more than one embryo per cycle, that’s likely to make IVF even more financially out of reach for people who don’t have insurance coverage, and who struggle to pay that hefty price tag.
The US Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the use of frozen embryos in IVF and surrogacy. Alabama’s Supreme Court overturned a lower court’s ruling which had allowed the use of frozen embryos to fertilise a baby but barred them from being used to create children. It ruled that the fertilized egg has “an intrinsic right to life” and cannot be used to create a child.