The Alabama Supreme Court on Friday declined to review a controversial ruling that said frozen embryos are considered children under state law.
In a 7-2 ruling, the justices rejected without comment a request to reconsider a ruling that drew international attention and prompted the closure of a fertility clinic earlier this year.
In February, an Alabama judge ruled that three couples could file wrongful death lawsuits for “extrauterine children” after their frozen embryos were destroyed in an accident at a storage facility. I put it down.
The ruling sparked a wave of public backlash, with women seeing their fertility treatments canceled or jeopardized after the ruling.
Three clinics have suspended in vitro fertilization services after a court ruling treating frozen embryos the same as children or pregnant fetuses under Alabama’s wrongful death law raised civil liability concerns. The clinic resumed service after the state Legislature approved a bill that protects health care providers from civil lawsuits.
In a dissenting opinion, Judge Will Sellers said he would have granted the request for a new hearing to gather more information.
“The majority’s opinion on the original submission had significant and far-reaching effects on individuals who were in no way connected to the parties to the case. Many of these people were legally and “There was no reason to believe that routine medical treatment would be delayed, much less denied,” Sellers wrote.
The defendants in the lawsuit, a reproductive health center and mobile clinic, had asked the judge to reconsider the matter.
The Alabama State Medical Association and the Alabama Hospital Association filed briefs supporting the request. They said that although IVF services have resumed, the decision continues to cause uncertainty in the medical community.
