1/ The Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos created through in vitro fertilization are “children” under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. The Alabama ruling permits three couples to sue for wrongful death after their frozen embryos were destroyed in an accident at a fertility clinic. The state Supreme Court ruled that “unborn children are ‘children,’” including “extrauterine children,” and covered under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor law. “Even before birth, all human beings have the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing his glory,” Chief Justice Tom Parker wrote. The court’s ruling threatens the entire IVF industry in the state since the standard medical procedure during treatment is to extract multiple eggs from a woman, fertilize them to create embryos, transfer one embryo into the uterus in order to maximize the chances of successful implantation, and then store the remaining embryos that were genetically normal. The White House press secretary said the Alabama ruling was “exactly the type of chaos that we expected when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and paved the way for politicians to dictate some of the most personal decisions families can make.” Meanwhile, the University of Alabama at Birmingham health system paused all IVF procedures following the court decision due to fear of criminal prosecution and lawsuits. (CNN / Washington Post / Associated Press / New York Times / NPR / NBC News / AL.com)
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2024/02/21/day-1128/