02/20/2024

Alabama Supreme Court Rules Frozen Embryos are Children

The ruling could imperil the future of IVF

On Feb. 16, 2024, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are people and someone can be held liable for destroying them, a decision that reproductive rights advocates say could imperil in vitro fertilization (IVF) and affect the hundreds of thousands of patients who depend on treatments like it each year.

The first-of-its-kind ruling comes as at least 11 states have broadly defined personhood as beginning at fertilization in their state laws, according to reproductive rights group Pregnancy Justice, and states nationwide mull additional abortion and reproductive restrictions, elevating the issue ahead of the 2024 elections. Federally, this term, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) will decide whether to limit access to an abortion drug, the first time the high court will rule on the subject since it overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

The Alabama case focused on whether a patient who mistakenly dropped and destroyed other couples' frozen embryos could be held liable in a wrongful-death lawsuit. The court ruled the patient could, writing that it had long held that "unborn children are 'children'" and that that was also true for frozen embryos, affording the fertilized eggs the same protection as babies under the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.