An Alabama Supreme Court ruling that grants fertilized eggs equivalent legal status as children is already impacting individuals seeking fertility treatment, potentially affecting prospective parents and medical professionals more broadly.
Associate Justice Jay Mitchell’s opinion states that Alabama has historically considered unborn children as “children” under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. This interpretation now extends to in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments, establishing conception as the legal starting point for defining human life and children.
IVF, a procedure involving fertilizing eggs externally and then transferring embryos to the uterus, accounts for a significant portion of fertility treatments in the United States, as reported by Resolve, a national organization supporting such treatments.
The case revolves around allegations against a Mobile medical facility where embryos stored at a cryogenic facility were mistakenly dropped and destroyed.
Chief Justice Tom Parker of the Alabama Supreme Court referenced various Biblical passages in his quest to define the “sanctity of life,” ultimately concluding that an embryo aligns with the definition of a child.
Parker emphasized a theologically grounded perspective on the sanctity of life, asserting that all human beings, including unborn ones, bear the image of God and their lives should not be unjustly terminated.
Parker also highlighted the lack of federal regulation in IVF and suggested examining countries like Australia and New Zealand, where physicians typically create a single embryo at a time.
In contrast, Associate Justice Gregory Cook expressed concerns about the ruling’s potential adverse effects on IVF procedures.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham health system has temporarily halted IVF services, with patients able to proceed up to egg retrieval but facing a pause in fertilization and embryo development. This decision has left many patients desiring IVF treatment disheartened.
Applying the wrongful death statute to in vitro embryos could escalate fertility treatment costs, potentially deter doctors from practicing in Alabama, as per a brief submitted by the Medical Association of the State of Alabama.
Cook argued in his dissent that the ruling could halt the creation of frozen embryos in Alabama, impacting individuals aspiring to become parents through IVF and potentially leading to a decline in the number of births.
Cook advocated for the legislature, rather than the court, to determine the fate of medical procedures like IVF, citing historical legal precedents that did not recognize unborn infants or frozen embryos as legally equivalent to children capable of being harmed.
Cook referenced a 1926 ruling that did not permit compensation for injuries causing the death of a fetus during pregnancy, underscoring the evolving legal perspectives on the status of unborn infants.