The AL Supreme Court determined that frozen embryos are now considered “children” under Alabama state law and stated that laws dealing with the tragic death of a minor “apply to all unborn children, regardless of their location.”
Infertility treatment-produced frozen embryos could be legally considered children under state law, the Alabama Supreme Court said on Friday.
A group of patients who had in vitro fertilization (IVF) and lost their embryos, which were frozen, in December 2020 due to one of the patients removing the embryos from a cryogenic storage unit and dumping them on the ground filed a complaint, which resulted in this majority decision by the court.
The decision, which was rendered in two instances involving several couples whose embryos were destroyed, was expected to have a significant impact on reproductive therapy, according to advocates.
Citing pro-life wording from the Alabama Constitution, the judges said on Friday that parents may sue for the death of a minor child under state legislation dating back to 1872 and that this act “applies to all unborn infants, regardless of their location.”
Justice Jay Mitchell said in the majority decision, “Unborn children are ‘children’ under the Act, without exemption based on physical location, developmental stage, or any other ancillary criteria.”
“The Wrongful Death of a Minor Act in Alabama covers fetuses slain when a woman is pregnant, and nothing eliminates extrauterine children from the Act’s coverage,” Mitchell continued, citing previous rulings from the court.
The IVF treatments that the plaintiffs in the Alabama complaint underwent resulted in several embryos, some of which were implanted and produced healthy babies. A storage facility of the Mobile Infirmary Medical Center housed others, frozen.
The ruling said that a patient had entered the space, stolen many embryos, and then “killed” them by letting them fall to the ground.
Chief Justice Tom Parker used biblical verses to elucidate the meaning of the Alabama Constitution’s reference to “the sacredness of unborn life” in his concurring opinion.
“All humans bear the image of God even before birth, and it is impossible to kill them without eroding his splendor,” Parker stated.
