Alabama Supreme Court: Frozen Embryos Are Children

February 19, 2024 Christianists, Politics

The Huffington Post reports:

The Alabama Supreme Court ruled Friday that frozen embryos are children, which pro-choice rights groups have warned could have dangerous implications for fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization.

The Alabama Supreme Court on Friday reversed Mobile County Circuit Court Judge Jill Parrish Phillips’ decision to dismiss a lawsuit in which a couple sued an Alabama fertility clinic and hospital for the “wrongful death” of their frozen embryos in a ruling that was riddled with theology.

The ruling pointed to the Alabama Constitution Section 36.06, which argues that each person was made in God’s image, meaning each life has an incalculable value that “cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God.”

The Birmingham News reports:



Attorneys representing the Medical Association of the State of Alabama wrote that applying the wrongful death statute to in vitro embryos, which had been created in a lab but not yet implanted, would drive up the costs of fertility treatment and discourage doctors from practicing in Alabama.

“The increased exposure to wrongful death liability as advocated by the Appellants would – at best – substantially increase the costs associated with IVF. More ominously, the increased risk of legal exposure might result in Alabama’s fertility clinics shutting down and fertility specialists moving to other states to practice fertility medicine.”

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