Alabama's Frozen Embryo Ruling: What's it all about?
- Prisha
- Mar 4, 2024
- 3 min read
In today's edition of "What non-sentient being is now considered a child in America?", Alabama's Supreme Court presents: the frozen embryo.
Indeed, a fertilized egg inside a petri dish is now considered an "extrauterine child."
How did this happen? This ruling is the result of a lawsuit initially fired in 2020 by three sets of parents undergoing IVF. Another patient had made their way into the cryogenic chamber, where the parents' embryos were stored, and dropped the embryos after "freeze-burning" their hands. This meant that the embryos were no longer usable.
The parents filed a lawsuit under the "Wrongful Death Of A Minor" Act, and it was dismissed by a lower-level court in Alabama. However, the Supreme Court of Alabama took the case, and Chief Justice Tom Parker's concurring opinion states that "The People of Alabama have declared the public policy of this State to be that unborn human life is sacred... We believe that each human being, from the moment of conception, is made in the image of God, created by Him to reflect His likeness." The fact that such a statement can be made in a court of law in the secular American state is truly preposterous and even rather inane when put in perspective of the myriad of religious beliefs present in America today. A ruling such as this one must be viewed in the context of reproductive rights in the state it has been passed: currently, Alabama has a total abortion ban, with no exceptions for cases of rape or incest. This ruling is not an isolated incident; it follows the overturning of Roe V. Wade and is likely to set a precedent for future colloquies surrounding reproductive rights because it is the first of its kind.
Despite this definition of an embryo being a child being completely medically inaccurate, this ruling has been allowed to pass with the corroboration of a theocratical statement of concurring opinion from the Chief Justice.
What are the consequences of this? To understand the gravity of this ruling, it is necessary to understand the general process of IVF (in-vitro fertilization). First, participants must take hormone injections to stimulate the production of eggs. Doctors then extract as many of these eggs as possible to increase the chances of a viable pregnancy. Finally, the eggs are combined with sperm in a petri dish to create an embryo. At this point, "conception" has occurred, and the embryo now has the full legal protections that a minor would have.
Generally speaking, several embryos are created for the optimal chance at life, and they can either be implanted into the womb directly or be frozen for future pregnancies. If an embryo is unusable for any reason, it can be destroyed or donated for scientific research.
The Alabama ruling creates complications around the steps of IVF after the creation of the embryo. If excess embryos cannot be discarded, the only solution is to extract fewer eggs. However, this means that parents trying for pregnancies now must go through several rounds of hormonal injections, egg extractions, and embryo implantations if their first embryo is nonviable. This will likely be the reality for most patients seeking IVF with this ruling, as only 55% of embryos succeed in reaching the next step of the procedure. Not only would this take a toll on the patient's mental and physical health, but also on their finances: one IVF cycle can cost as much as $30,000.
This ruling creates many legal questions around the IVF process: how will non-viable embryos be dealt with? Is it still legal to freeze embryos? Can a medical practitioner be charged with the murder of a minor if an embryo in their care does not make it to the next stage of IVF?
Due to these complications, three of Alabama's IVF providers have already paused their services. What would this mean for parents with currently frozen embryos? Although they could consider having the embryos transported to a different state, this also raises legal questions for the transporters. In short, many parents in the middle of their IVF treatments have been thrust into a hellish limbo.
What's next? According to experts, it is likely that the sentiment this ruling expresses will spread to other conservative states. It will also likely decrease the number of successful IVF pregnancies, and overall limit IVF options.
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