Save the Baby Embryos!
A landmark Alabama Supreme Court ruling sent shockwaves throughout the nation on Friday. In a 7-2 decision, the justices ruled that embryos created through means like in-vitro fertilization (IVF) are “minor children” under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. This sent Democrats — and a few Republicans — into a tizzy trying to protect the IVF industry. However, the ruling has little to do with IVF and everything to do with the value of life.
In 2020, a hospital patient entered an unsecured area of the facility, removed several cryogenically frozen embryos, and dropped them onto the floor killing them. The parents of these embryos sued the fertility clinic and hospital claiming wrongful death. Alabama’s 1872 Wrongful Death of a Minor Act allows parents of a deceased child to sue a party in the event of negligence but does not specifically define the age range of a “minor child.” After a trial court dismissed the case asserting that embryos were property rather than children, the parents appealed to the state supreme court. Here, the ruling was reversed drawing from two recent wrongful death cases that have extended rights to the unborn.
One of the dissenting justices, Greg Cook, argued “that the ruling will have disastrous consequences for the in vitro fertilization industry in Alabama.” This view places the main mission of IVF clinics as destroying embryos. But as Joshua Arnold pointed out in The Washington Stand, “the Alabama Supreme Court did not prohibit the practice, nor even regulate it. All they said was a law protecting children from harm applied to all children, including embryos conceived via IVF. And, in a concurring opinion, Chief Justice Tom Parker added his commentary on the Alabama Constitution’s recognition of the ‘sanctity of unborn life.’”
The reality is other states and countries are performing IVF in ethical ways. In Louisiana, not only have they recognized the personhood of embryos, but medical professionals are prohibited from destroying those that are viable. The law also forces fertility clinics to take responsibility for caring for these embryos. Louisiana performs more IVF implantation attempts, resulting in more successful births than Alabama. These “more restrictive” laws clearly haven’t deterred fertility clinics in Louisiana.
As usual, the Left is using this decision as an excuse to have the federal government usurp what is a state issue. Senator Tammy Duckworth has introduced a bill related to IVF every year and now has decided to expand it from just requiring insurance coverage for such procedures to a statutory right “without prohibition or unreasonable limitation or interference (such as due to financial cost or detriment to the individual’s health, including mental health), to access assisted reproductive technology” including a right to sue a state if it passes any limitations or requirements that violate this law.
The Access to Family Building Act (S. 3612) is fraught with problems. First, it includes a very broad definition of “reproductive assisted technology” citing the Fertility Clinic Success Rate and Certification Act of 1992 which categorizes it as “treatments or procedures which include the handling of human oocytes or embryos.” This could include not only IVF, but cloning, gene editing, experimentation on embryos, commercial surrogacy, “designer babies”, and more.
To make matters worse, the bill erases all religious conscience protections regarding IVF. It contains language that exempts itself from the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), a law that protects religious and conscience rights of all Americans and was championed by even Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) when it was passed in 1993. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), the chair of the Senate Pro-Life Caucus, has already objected to the Duckworth bill moving forward.
On the House side, Representative Nancy Mace (R-SC), who has been wishy-washy on many pro-life issues, introduced a resolution that undermines Alabama’s decision. The language falsely instills fear by saying that the Alabama decision would result in fewer pregnancies and skyrocketing IVF costs. This resolution is only a Sense of Congress that “calls on elected officials at all levels of government to proactively pass legislation to protect access to fertility care.”
Alabama Eagle Forum is educating both the grassroots and legislators on the truth of the ruling. They have expressed “the utmost support for the families and IVF parents harmed by the shocking, and unnecessary, cessation of services by Alabama IVF clinics.” We encourage all states to pass laws that recognize the value of babies from conception, protect parents, and seek to ensure the highest ethical practices are in place for Assisted Reproductive Technology.
