The University of Alabama at Birmingham announced Wednesday that it is suspending in vitro fertilization procedures following the state Supreme Court’s ruling regarding embryos.
UAB’s Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility is pleased to announce that the Alabama Supreme Court last week ruled in a wrongful death lawsuit that frozen embryos created during infertility treatment should be considered to have the same status as children under state law. In response, the company announced that it had decided to avoid criminal prosecution.
UAB spokeswoman Hannah Echols said the university is a great choice for women who want to conceive through in vitro fertilization (fertilizing an egg with sperm outside the body in a lab and then reimplanting the embryo into the woman’s uterus for pregnancy). He explained that the health care system remains “grieving.” “We are evaluating the potential for patients and physicians to face criminal prosecution or punitive damages for following the standard of care for IVF treatment,” Echols said in her email, according to AL.com. “I have to,” he wrote in an email.
The state Supreme Court’s decision comes in two cases brought by three couples whose frozen embryos were destroyed at a fertility clinic when hospital patients entered the storage area, removed the embryos from a cryogenic freezer, and dropped them at the hospital. in a wrongful death lawsuit. Ground.
Alabama Supreme Court rules couples can sue for wrongful death after embryo collection
In this October 2, 2018 file photo, containers containing frozen embryos and sperm are stored in liquid nitrogen at a fertility clinic in Fort Myers, Florida. (AP Photo/Lynn Sladke, File)
The justices cited the Alabama Constitution, saying that an 1872 state law that allows parents to sue over the death of their minor children “applies to all unborn children, regardless of their place of residence.” handed down the verdict.
“A fetus is a ‘child’…without exception based on stage of development, physical location, or other incidental characteristics,” Justice Jay Mitchell wrote in Friday’s majority decision by the all-Republican court. Stated. Mitchell said the court had previously ruled that fetuses killed during a woman’s pregnancy were subject to Alabama’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act, and that “the law does not apply to children outside the womb. There is nothing to exclude.”
The decision brought a flood of warnings about the potential impact on freezing embryos and fertility treatment, which courts had previously considered property.
The Alabama Supreme Court ruled on Friday, February 16, 2024, that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law. (AP Photo/Kim Chandler)
Critics say Alabama’s frozen embryo ruling will limit access to fertility treatment
Lawyers have warned that a divorce settlement that calls for the destruction of frozen embryos could be invalid, according to the Washington Post.
According to the Associated Press, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that the Alabama decision reflects the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, which will affect women’s reproductive and emergency medical care. He said he blamed Republican elected officials for what he labeled as blocking access. .
Exterior view of the Alabama Supreme Court building in Montgomery, Alabama, Tuesday, February 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Kim Chandler)
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“This President and this Vice President will continue to fight to protect access to reproductive health care and call on Congress to restore Roe v. Wade’s protections in federal law to all women in all states,” Jean-Pierre said. He spoke to reporters aboard an Air Force plane. One.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
