Sanity and Sanctity in Alabama Supreme Court Unborn-life Ruling
The Alabama Supreme Court ruled in February that frozen embryos are considered children under state law. Specifically, they are “extrauterine children,” and anyone who destroys them, whether willfully or accidentally, can be held liable for violating state law.
The decision came about because of two wrongful-death cases brought in 2021 by three couples, each of whom had frozen embryos that were accidentally destroyed at a fertility clinic. The embryos were created through in vitro fertilization and were housed in a “cryogenic nursery,” awaiting implantation.
The justices cited both the Alabama Constitution and an 1872 state law in determining that the ability of parents to sue over the death of a minor child “applies to all unborn children, regardless of their location.”
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