Alabama Supreme Court says an embryo is a person

Reproductive rights in the United States have taken another hit with the state of Alabama’s Supreme Court ruling that a frozen embryo is a person.

Hundreds of thousands of women in the country utilize IVF (in vitro fertilization) treatments to become pregnant. 

The complex fertility procedure consists of externally fertilizing an ovum harvested from an ovary with sperm in a dish or glass (vitro) and placing it into a woman’s uterus for implantation.

The Court’s ruling came from a pair of wrongful death lawsuits brought by couples who alleged their frozen embryos being preserved at a fertility clinic were accidentally destroyed by a rogue patient.

Embracing anti-abortion language in the state’s Constitution from 1872, the Alabama Justices ruled that state law allows for the parents of a deceased child to sue over its death, which “applies to all unborn children, regardless of their location.”

The first-of-its-kind ruling dictates that the ‘child’ in these cases was a fertilized egg in a petri dish, and that a person who destroys an embryo could be liable for a child’s death.

“Unborn children are ‘children’ under the Act, without exception based on developmental stage, physical location, or any other ancillary characteristics,” Justice Jay Mitchell wrote in the majority ruling.Alabama Chief Justice Tom Parker quoted the Bible as he discussed the state’s Constitution.  

“Even before birth, all human beings bear the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing his glory,” Parker said.

The U.S. Constitution’s “establishment clause” in the First Amendment prohibits government endorsement of religion.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s is now dominated by conservative justices who have taken a broad view of religious rights.

Reproductive rights advocates say the ruling is expected to affect other rulings across the country.  

Laws related to abortion, fertility, contraception and research could all be impacted.The ruling is a big win for abortion rights advocates who argue that 'personhood' begins at conception. 

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