Alabama's largest hospital says it is halting IVF treatments in wake of court ruling
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Frozen embryos and sperm are stored in liquid nitrogen at a fertility clinic in Florida. The Alabama Supreme Court ruling stems from wrongful death cases brought by three couples who had frozen embryos destroyed in an accident at a fertility clinic in the state.Lynne Sladky / AP -
In its ruling Friday, Alabama's Supreme Court referred to frozen embryos as "extrauterine children."Kim Chandler / AP -
Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Parker, pictured in 2006, wrote that destroying life would "incur the wrath of a holy God."Jamie Martin / AP
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The dominoes are beginning to fall in Alabama where a recent state supreme court ruling grants fertilized eggs the same rights as children. The state of Alabama's largest hospital is now pausing a major procedure used in helping women get pregnant.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham hospital, or UAB, has announced doctors there will not be doing any more IVF, or in vitro fertilization treatments.
The recent state supreme court ruling leaves thousands of couples who need help getting pregnant left wondering where they will turn for help building a family. Not only those who use UAB, but for others who wait to see if their local clinic will do the same.
Residents of Alabama and the rest of the country may be shocked by the state's Supreme Court ruling but for many, this was the natural progression for the conservative southern state that in 2022 banned all abortions regardless of cases of incest and rape.
"I was not surprised," said Jill Lens, a professor of law at the University of Arkansas and an expert in reproductive rights. "Alabama Supreme court has for a long time, enthusiastically applied wrongful death law to pregnancy losses and [if] it's a person the second it's in the womb – if it's a person, it's a person. I'm not sure why the location in a freezer would matter."
In other words, anyone who's been following Alabama's abortion debate should have seen it coming in a state where prosecutors have arrested pregnant women for engaging in behaviors like taking drugs that could be harmful to a fetus. Alabama outlaws all abortions, making no exceptions for cases of rape or incest.
While many other states have passed similar legislation, no other state has defined life as beginning at conception, which is essentially what this court ruling does.
No other state has given personhood rights to all fertilized eggs. And even in states that allow the prosecution of women who put the health of their fetuses at risk, most do not apply that prosecution statute to pregnancies before the 24th week. That is the age at which most doctors consider a fetus to be able to live outside the womb.
This case was brought before the state Supreme Court by three couples in Alabama who had frozen embryos being stored at a facility in Mobile. They had used IVF, or in vitro fertilization, to create embryos that were then frozen for them to be able to use at a later date. That's standard procedure in IVF clinics in the United States, where clinics prefer harvesting as many eggs at a time in order to increase the odds of getting even one egg that is healthy enough to be fertilized and put back into a woman's uterus.
What went wrong in this case pertains to the security of the hospital that was storing the frozen embryos. A random patient somehow gained access to the cryogenics lab, grabbed the embryos and dropped them, thus destroying them.
The three couples sued the hospital and a lower court ruled they were not entitled to damages because the frozen embryos were not people. The Alabama Supreme Court, however, ruled that they are indeed people, going so far as calling them "extrauterine children."
Alabama's Chief Justice, Tom Parker, wrote in the decision that destroying life would "incur the wrath of a holy God." Of nine state Supreme Court Justices, only one disagreed.
This case is not likely to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court because this was the state's Supreme Court ruling based on a state law.
Critics have long urged the state legislature to spell out exactly who falls under the state's wrongful death statute. It's clear the state's Supreme Court says life begins at fertilization and that it doesn't matter whether that life is in a woman's uterus or in a freezer in a fertility clinic.
If Alabama lawmakers fail to define at what age a fertilized egg becomes a person, it could become a crime in Alabama to destroy frozen embryos. That could ultimately mean those embryos could be frozen forever, because it's not clear yet if those frozen embryos could be donated to other states or to science, because they have now been given the same protection as children.
The irony, here, is that the very lawsuit filed by the three couples who were upset when their embryos were destroyed may actually end up making it far more difficult for Alabamians who are struggling to conceive naturally.
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Transcript
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
A ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court gives fertilized eggs the same rights as children.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The decision has repercussions for reproductive health throughout the state.
MARTÍNEZ: Reporter Melanie Peeples in Birmingham has been following the developments. Melanie, how did Alabama's highest court get at this decision?
MELANIE PEEPLES: Well, it's all about these three couples in Alabama who had frozen embryos stored at a facility in Mobile. Everything was going along fine until another patient somehow got access to the frozen embryos and destroyed them. So the three couples to whom the embryos belong then filed a lawsuit for wrongful death. Well, a lower court ruled they couldn't do that because they said the embryos weren't people. And the Alabama Supreme Court ruled, oh, yes, they are. The state Supreme Court went so far as to call them extrauterine children. And, of course, this ruling is causing a lot of concern and confusion for couples for whom in vitro fertilization is their best chance to get pregnant.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. How were Alabama's restrictions on abortion access applied in this case?
PEEPLES: Well, Alabama bans abortion at any stage of pregnancy with no exceptions for rape or incest. In fact, the state has gone so far as to arrest women who either miscarry or engage in risky behaviors that could cause damage to a fetus. You know, the belief that life begins at conception is paramount to the Alabama abortion law. Moreover, the chief justice in this ruling says destroying that life would, quote, "incur the wrath of a holy God."
And the ruling wasn't even close. The judges ruled 8-1 to create this class of extrauterine children. Other states have limited wrongful death statutes to apply only to fetuses 24 weeks old or more. That's around the time that most fetuses could be considered to be viable outside the womb.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. So given these new restrictions, what are the options for fertility clinics?
PEEPLES: Not many. Right now, Alabama's medical association says they have grave concerns about the ruling, and some clinics are saying that they would have to shut down. You know, for IVF, or in vitro fertilization, fertility clinics in the U.S. prefer to harvest as many eggs as they can at a time from a woman in order to give them the best odds at pregnancy. And unless lawmakers act, that's a process that is not likely to continue in Alabama.
MARTÍNEZ: Melanie, any opportunity to, say, roll this back?
PEEPLES: You know, it's really up to Alabama lawmakers what happens next. The case is unlikely to be appealed to a higher court because it was a state Supreme Court ruling based on a state law. Now, critics have long urged the Legislature to spell out exactly who all falls under the state's wrongful death statute, and it's clear that the state Supreme Court says life begins at fertilization, and it doesn't matter whether that life is in a woman's uterus or in a freezer in a fertility clinic in Mobile. And should the state Legislature fail to define that, it could soon become a crime in Alabama to destroy frozen embryos, which could ultimately mean them being frozen forever because it's not clear yet if those frozen embryos could even be donated to other states or to science because, again, they have the same protection as children.
The irony here is that the very lawsuit filed by the three couples who were upset when their embryos were destroyed may end up making it way more difficult for Alabamians who are struggling to conceive naturally.
MARTÍNEZ: That's Melanie Peeples in Birmingham. Melanie, thanks.
PEEPLES: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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