The controversial legal decision in the United States that considers frozen embryos as children (and the consequential effects) This ruling has opened up a new front in the reproductive medicine battle in the United States. The Alabama Supreme Court recently issued a judgment classifying frozen embryos as “babies,” thereby also assigning responsibilities to those involved in their accidental destruction. This has prompted the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s health system, the largest hospital in the southern United States, to suspend its in vitro fertilization (IVF) services out of caution regarding potential criminal actions. The institution stated that it would continue to extract eggs from women’s ovaries. However, it said it would pause the next step of the IVF process, in which the eggs are fertilized with sperm before being implanted in the uterus. “But we must evaluate the possibility that our patients and our physicians could be criminally prosecuted or face punitive damages for following the standard of care for IVF treatments.” Shortly after, a second clinic, Alabama Fertility, also suspended procedures due to the “legal risk” they now face. Medical experts and reproductive rights advocacy groups warned that the ruling could have negative consequences for fertility treatments in Alabama and other states. At the same time, conservative groups expressed satisfaction with the ruling, arguing that even the smallest embryo deserved legal protection.
The decision stems from a wrongful death lawsuit filed by three couples whose embryos were lost at a fertility clinic in 2020. A patient had entered the area where the embryos were stored, mishandled them, and accidentally dropped them. As a result, the embryos were destroyed. The couples sued the Reproductive Medicine Center and the Mobile Nursing Association under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. This law covers fetuses but not embryos resulting from IVF. A lower court had ruled that embryos did not have the legal status of a person or child and that the wrongful death lawsuit could not proceed. But in its ruling, the Alabama Supreme Court sided with the plaintiffs and ruled that frozen embryos were considered “babies.” The wrongful death law applies to “all unborn children, regardless of their location,” the decision reads. Echoing the majority opinion, Chief Justice Tom Parker wrote, “Even before birth, all human beings bear the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without erasing their glory.” The ruling neither prohibits nor restricts IVF, and in fact, the couples who filed the case had undergone the procedure. But the decision may cause confusion about whether certain aspects of IVF are legal under Alabama law, experts say. If an embryo is considered a person, it could raise questions about how clinics can use and store them.
Elisabeth Smith, director of state policy at the Center for Reproductive Rights, told the BBC: “Not all [IVF] embryos are used, or can be used.” “Enacting a law that grants legal personhood to embryos could have disastrous consequences for the use of IVF, a science that many people rely on to build their families.” The law’s ambiguity could also extend to the patients themselves, who may have doubts about whether the procedure remains available or is still legal. The Medical Association of the State of Alabama said in a statement: “The significance of this decision affects all residents of Alabama and is likely to result in fewer babies – children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and cousins – as fertility options are limited for those who want to start a family.” When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the right to abortion nationwide in 2022, it opened the door for states to enact their own laws on the matter. Since that decision, states governed by Democrats have expanded access to abortion, while those with Republican majorities have restricted it. Before this decision, Alabama already banned abortion at all stages of pregnancy. The White House called the new state ruling “the exact kind of chaos we expected when the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade and paved the way for politicians to influence one of the most personal decisions families can make.” Opponents of legal abortion have also been closely following this ruling. The question of when an embryo or fetus is legally considered a person is a factor in many state restrictions on abortion.
