US Court Rules "Frozen Embryos Are Also Fetuses" in First Decision... Impact on Abortion Ban

The first state court ruling in the United States has determined that frozen embryos created for in vitro fertilization (IVF) should also be considered fetuses.

On June 26, 2022 (local time), two days after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling overturning the Roe v. Wade precedent in the case of Thomas Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, abortion rights advocates held a protest in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington. They stated that the ruling set back American history and vowed to fight to protect abortion rights. [Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 19th (local time), the U.S. daily Washington Post (WP) reported that the Alabama Supreme Court ruled on the 16th that frozen embryos are fetuses and that legal liability arises if they are discarded.

The issue was whether legal responsibility could be held for wrongful death against a patient who accidentally dropped and destroyed another couple's frozen embryos. The Alabama Supreme Court panel held that frozen embryos must receive the same legal protection as babies under the wrongful death laws related to minors. This applies "without limitation to all children, whether born or unborn."

The ruling stated, "All human life, even before birth, bears the image of God, and their life cannot be destroyed without erasing God's glory," "If human life is unjustly destroyed, it inevitably provokes the holy wrath of God, who regards the destruction of His created image as an insult to Himself." This overturned a lower court ruling that dismissed the lawsuit on the grounds that embryos do not meet the definition of a child.

As a result, there are concerns from abortion rights supporters as well as the medical community that this could negatively impact IVF procedures. Currently, hundreds of thousands of infertile couples in the U.S. use IVF annually. The Alabama Medical Association warned in a briefing that this ruling increases the risk of lawsuits related to IVF, which could raise procedure costs or reduce the number of fertility clinics.