He Alabama Supreme Courtin USA, stated in a ruling that embryos frozen outside the uterus are “children”a decision criticized by the White House and by the main American association against infertility, who described it as a “terrifying event.”
“Across the country, women are forced to deal with devastating consequences of the actions of Republican elected officials (…) from undermining access to reproductive care and emergency until threaten access to contraception,” the White House spokeswoman said on Tuesday, Karine Jean-Pierre.
The National Infertility Association (Resolve) indicated that Alabama ruling could have ‘devastating consequences’ for fertility clinics from the southern state that offer in vitro fertilization (IVF).
“The Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling is a terrifying development for the 1 in 6 people affected by infertility who need IVF to build their families”Resolve said in a statement.
“This new legal framework can make it impossible to offer services such as #IVFa treatment standard medical for infertility”, he continued.
The case in which the Alabama Court ruled
The sentence of high court of alabama has its origin in a lawsuit filed against a fertility clinic under the Wrongful Death Law of a Minor of 1872 of the state.
The lawsuit was filed by three couples whose frozen embryos were destroyed by a patient who “managed to break into” a cryogenic room where they were stored and accidentally dropped several of them on the floor.
A lower court ruled that embryos They could not be defined as “person” or “child” and dismissed the wrongful death claim.
The Alabama Court ruling declaring frozen embryos “children”
The Alabama Supreme Court, in a ruling handed down Friday, disagreed with the ruling and stated that “The Wrongful Death of a Child Act applies to all unborn children, without limitation.”
“HE applies to all children, born and unborn“Judge Jay Mitchell wrote in an opinion peppered with quotes from the Bible.
“The people of Alabama have declared that it is the public policy of this state that unborn human life is sacred,” he said. Mitchell in a reference to the state’s near-total ban on abortion.
“We believe that every human being, from the moment of conception, is made in the image of God, created by Him to reflect His likeness”Mitchell added.
“It’s as if the people of Alabama took what the prophet Jeremiah said and applied it to every unborn person in this state: ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. Before you were born I sanctified you,'” he wrote.
They warn of the “detrimental impact” of the Alabama ruling
Dana Sussman, deputy executive director of the organization Pregnancy Justice, described the Alabama ruling as a “natural extension of the march towards the personification of the fetus.”
“This is of great concern to anyone who cares about reproductive rights of people and attention to abortion”, Sussman said.
While the Alabama State Medical Association warned in a letter to the court of “potential detrimental impact on IVF treatment in Alabama” of a ruling that would consider embryos frozen outside the womb as children.
Alabama It is one of two dozen states that have banned or restricted access to abortion after the ruling of the United States Supreme Court of 2022, which nullified the constitutional right to this procedure enshrined in the Roe v. Wade case.
Source: Ambito
