VIRGINIA – The Alabama Supreme Court made a landmark ruling on Friday that embryos created through in vitro fertilization (IVF) can be considered people under state law. That means anyone who destroys them can be sued for wrongful death.
The ruling stemmed from a pair of wrongful death cases brought by three couples who had frozen embryos destroyed accidentally at a fertility clinic.
The decision prompted praise from pro-life advocates, including Family Foundation of Virginia President Victoria Cobb.
“We know that from the moment there is a fertilized egg, that human life has begun,” said Cobb. “There is a unique, a genetically unique and distinct human being. And so really the Alabama Supreme Court just followed the science and ruled accordingly.”
The ruling also caused concern for fertility clinics across the country. Betsy Campbell with the Resolve National Infertility Association says they’ve been flooded with calls.
“The future of IVF is in question,” said Campbell.
Reproductive rights advocates say the ruling could make the IVF choice even harder for clinics and parents. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1 in 5 married women ages 15 to 49 struggle with infertility.
“We don’t know if families could be charged with a crime for freezing their extra embryos or if healthcare practitioners will be charged if an embryo doesn’t develop,” said Campbell.
The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) called the court’s ruling “medically and scientifically unfounded.” President Dr. Paula Amato, MD released a statement that reads, in part:
“Cryopreservation, or freezing of reproductive tissues, including fertilized eggs or embryos, is essential to modern fertility care and helps patients achieve the birth of a single, healthy child. In natural fertility, several eggs are often fertilized before one develops and implants in the uterus. Similarly in IVF, to get the best outcome, several eggs must be fertilized to allow for one with normal growth and development to be chosen and transferred into the uterus. Any remaining normally developing embryos can be, at the patient’s request and consent, frozen for later use. The best-developing embryo will be transferred into a patient for an attempt at a pregnancy while the rest are frozen for use, in case the first one does not develop into a live birth, or the patient later desires another child later. By insisting that these very different biological entities are legally equivalent, the best state-of-the-art fertility care will be made unavailable to the people of Alabama. No healthcare provider will be willing to provide treatments if those treatments may lead to civil or criminal charges.”
“The choice to build a family is a fundamental right for all Americans, regardless of where they live. We cannot, therefore, allow this dangerous precedent of judicial overreach with national implications to go unchecked.”