On Feb. 20, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are considered children and are protected under the law, and that those who destroy them can be held liable for wrongful death. This change shows a new way in which the overturning of Roe v. Wade can affect how embryos are viewed under certain state laws.
The ruling stems from two lawsuits in which three sets of parents who underwent in-vitro fertilization allege that several frozen embryos at a hospital in Mobile, Ala. were dropped on the floor and destroyed in December 2020. The parents sued for damages. A trial court originally dismissed their claims, finding that the embryos were not people. Still, the state Supreme Court ruling, reversing that decision, said that the destruction of the embryos falls under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor law.
This decision is the first known case in which a U.S. court has ruled that frozen embryos are human beings. But, several separate actions have led up to that decision, creating an unprecedented foundation for the ruling to take place, making this ruling disappointing, but not surprising.
Since the U.S. The Supreme Court announced in 2021 that it would take up a Mississippi law banning abortions after 15 weeks, America began to prepare for the possibility of Roe’s downfall. And once the SCOTUS struck down the landmark abortion ruling in its 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson, the anti-abortion legislation and other measures that followed no longer surprised Americans.
The long-standing push for policies that emphasize the belief of some conservatives that life begins at conception was a precursor that such a ruling as the one we recently saw in Alabama was near.
In the 1970s, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s original Roe decision and as research into IVF was advancing, abortion opponents mounted a campaign to restrict research using embryos, despite recommendations from medical boards.
This led to a “fetal personhood” era. The legal concept of fetal personhood dates back to before Roe v. Wade, to Catholic groups that opposed the loosening of abortion laws in the 1960s. Personhood goes beyond banning abortion to argue that fetuses and, in some cases, embryos are people with all the same rights as anyone else.
So-called fetal personhood bills have been introduced in at least 14 states in the current legislative session, as per the Center for Reproductive Rights and the Guttmacher Institute.
According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, 30 state supreme courts have decided cases challenging abortion restrictions under their state constitutions. Of these, 12 have recognized protections for abortion rights in state constitutions, while four have denied their state constitutions protecting abortion rights. Other state high courts have either upheld or blocked abortion restrictions, without explicitly deciding on whether their state constitutions protect abortion rights.
These rulings have had direct consequences for those trying to access abortion care. In December, the Texas Supreme Court overturned a court order that would have allowed a Dallas woman to get an abortion after hearing her story of being forced to leave the state to terminate her nonviable pregnancy sparked a national outcry.
Roughly one in eight couples nationwide struggles with infertility. A 2023 Pew survey found that 42 percent of US adults say they or someone they know has used treatments like IVF or artificial insemination. So; as I continue to see rulings as absurd as this, I cannot help but ask myself: what is happening in America?
