Alabama's 'embryo is a child' rule raises questions about future of infertility treatment

The Alabama Supreme Court's ruling that embryos frozen in vitro should be considered children has shocked the world of reproductive medicine, called into question fertility treatments for parents in the state, and thrown Alabama into turmoil. It raised complex legal issues with implications far beyond. .

On Tuesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the ruling came “at a time when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, paving the way for politicians to dictate some of our most personal matters. , will cause exactly the kind of disruption we expected.” The family can decide. ”

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One during President Biden's visit to California, Jean-Pierre reiterated the Biden administration's call for Congress to codify Roe v. Wade's protections into federal law.

“Just to be clear, this is the same state where the attorney general has threatened to prosecute people who help women travel out of state to seek the care they need.” June 2022 He mentioned Alabama, which began enforcing a blanket ban on abortion in the United States.

of the judge handed down the verdict A lawsuit was filed Friday in an appeals lawsuit brought by a couple whose embryos were destroyed when a hospital patient removed them from a Mobile city liquid nitrogen tank in 2020 and dropped them on the floor.

The justices' majority opinion cited anti-abortion language in the state constitution, saying that an 1872 law that allowed parents to sue for the wrongful death of a minor child, except for “children outside the womb,” He said it also applies to fetuses.

Chief Justice Tom Parker issued a concurring opinion, quoting the Bible and saying, “Every human being bears the image of God before he is born, and his life cannot be destroyed without diminishing the glory of God.'' I wrote it in

Infertility experts and legal experts said the ruling has potentially serious implications and should be concerning to all Americans who need access to reproductive services such as in vitro fertilization. .

Infertility affects one in six families, said Barbara Collula, president and CEO of Resolve, which represents the interests of infertile patients.

“You've taken a microscopic group of cells and now they're a person or a child,” Korula says. “They don't say IVF is illegal, they don't say embryos shouldn't be frozen. Worse, they don't have a roadmap.”

In vitro fertilization, the standard medical protocol is to collect as many eggs as possible from a woman, fertilize them to create embryos, and then freeze them. Generally, only one embryo is transferred into the uterus at a time to maximize the chances of successful implantation and a full-term pregnancy.

“But what if you can't freeze it?” asked Korula. “Just because you can't freeze a 'person' does that mean you can hold them criminally liable?” This raises so many questions. ”

Reproductive medicine scientists also slammed the ruling, calling it a “medically and scientifically baseless decision.''

Dr. Paula Amato, president of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, said, “The court has ruled that frozen fertilized eggs stored in the freezers of fertility clinics are legally treated the same as living children or fetuses gestating in the womb.'' I decided that it should be done.”

“Science and common sense say they are not,” she said. She added that in nature, multiple eggs are often fertilized before one egg implants in the uterus and results in pregnancy.

Dr. Amato said the ruling will likely cause young doctors to stop training and practicing in Alabama, and doctors are at risk of civil or criminal lawsuits if they operate fertility clinics in the state. I predicted that if there was one, it would close. Fee.

“Alabamians will no longer have access to modern fertility treatments,” Dr. Amato predicted.

Couples undergoing grueling and expensive infertility treatments in Alabama say they are overwhelmed with questions and fears, and some worry that their providers will be forced to close clinics. Some people said.

Megan Legarsky, 37, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, who is currently undergoing fertility treatment, said she recently became pregnant after receiving an IVF embryo, but miscarried eight weeks later.

She said she and her partner have three more frozen embryos available for transfer.

“For me, the embryo is our greatest chance to have a child, and we are very excited,” Regelski said. “But for me, having three embryos in the freezer is not the same as one implanting and becoming pregnant, and neither is having a child.

“We have three embryos. We don't have three children.”

katie rogers Contributed to reporting from Washington.