An embryo is one of the earliest stages of development of a multicellular organism. But according to the Supreme Court of Alabama, it is a person, too — an unborn child, entitled to the same legal protections as any minor.
The court ruled on Feb. 16 that a fertility clinic patient who accidentally destroyed other patients’ frozen embryos could be liable in a wrongful death lawsuit, writing in its opinion that “the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act applies to all unborn children, regardless of their location,” and that this includes “unborn children who are located outside of a biological uterus at the time they are killed.”
This has had immediate and profound consequences on the practice of in vitro fertilization in the state, with many fertility clinics already deciding to interrupt their services for fear of legal repercussions, including the University of Alabama at Birmingham, which has paused its IVF treatments, as has Alabama Fertility Services.
This seems like it has ramifications far beyond IVF.
What happens to the morning after pill?
What happens when an embryo doesn’t implant correctly? Or when a woman miscarries at 10 weeks? Will the woman be blamed based on myths about what causes miscarriages? Will a woman who exercised strenuously be accused of manslaughter or murder?
10-20% of known pregnancies end in miscarriage and 30-50% of fertilized eggs are lost during implantation. There is a lot of misinformation about what causes failed implantation and miscarriages.. It seems like this ruling, when combined with the false information, could make many women into “murderers”.
My reasoning for miscarriage is: the woman is not responsible, therefore the government is and should be prosecuted.
Nek minut: “a representative democracy has no obligation to represent the democratic will of the people.”
See “to serve and protect”
IUDs and some birth control pills work by preventing implantation. Those would be banned, too.