A new front in the United States’ debate over reproductive medicine is opened by the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision that frozen embryos are considered children and that responsibility can be attached for their destruction.

As reported by the BBC, the largest hospital in Alabama discontinued in vitro fertilization (IVF) services after the decision, due to fears that he could face criminal charges. Birmingham State University Health System has announced it will continue retrieving eggs from women’s ovaries. But he said he would stop the next step in the IVF process, in which eggs are fertilized with sperm before being implanted in the uterus.

“We regret that this will affect our patients’ efforts to have a baby through IVF,” the hospital said in a statement. “But we have to assess the possibility of our patients and our doctors being prosecuted or face punitive damages to meet standards of care for IVF treatments’.

Medical experts and reproductive advocacy groups warned the decision could have negative consequences for fertility treatments in Alabama. and beyond it. Conservative groups welcomed the decision, arguing that even the tiniest fetus deserves legal protection.

Why did the lawsuit arise and what did the court decide?

The case stems from a “wrongful death” lawsuit by three couples whose the embryos were lost in a fertility clinic in 2020. A patient had wandered into the place where the embryos were stored and accidentally dropped them. As a result, the embryos were destroyed.

The couples attempted to sue the Center for Reproductive Medicine and the Mobile Infirmary Association under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. covers embryos, but does not specifically cover embryos from IVF.

A lower court had ruled that fetuses did not qualify as a person or child and that a wrongful death lawsuit could not proceed. But in its ruling, the Alabama Supreme Court sided with the couples and ruled that frozen embryos are considered “children”.

The wrongful-death law applied to “all unborn children, regardless of their origin,” the ruling said. Concurring in the majority opinion, Chief Justice Tom Parker wrote: “Even before birth, all human beings bear the image of God and their life cannot be destroyed without His glory disappearing.”

What are the implications for infertility patients in Alabama?

The decision does not prohibit or limit in vitro fertilization and indeed the couples who brought the case they sought in practice the process. However, the decision can cause confusion about whether certain aspects of IVF are lawful under Alabama law, say the experts.

If a fetus is considered a person, could raise questionsa about how clinics are allowed to use and store it. Elizabeth Smith, director of government policy at the Center for Reproductive Rights, told the BBC in a statement: “Not all embryos are used [IVF]nor can they be used.

“Legislation granting legal personhood to embryos could have devastating consequences for the use of IVF – a science in which many people rely on to build their families.” Ambiguity about the law could also extend to patients themselves, who may worry about whether the procedure remains available or legal.

The Alabama State Medical Association said in a statement: “The significance of this decision affects all Alabamians and likely will lead to fewer baby-children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and cousins– as fertility options are limited for those who want to have a family.’

How does the case relate to the abortion debate in the US?

When the US Supreme Court struck down a national right to abortion in 2022, it opened the door for states to enact their own laws on the matter. Since the ruling, Democratic-controlled states have expanded access while Republican-controlled states have restricted it.

Alabama had already imposed one complete ban on abortion, at all stages of pregnancys. The White House called the Alabama decision “exactly the kind of chaos we expected when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade (the Supreme Court’s previous landmark decision on a pregnant woman’s freedom to have an abortion) and opened the way for politicians to dictate some of the most personal decisions families can make.”

Opponents of abortion are also watching this decision closely. The question of when a fetus is considered a legal person is a factor in many state restrictions on abortion. The Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal group, described the Alabama decision as “huge victory for life”.

“Regardless of the circumstances, human life is precious from the time of arrest,” spokeswoman Denise Burke said in a statement to the BBC. “We are grateful that the Court correctly found that Alabama law recognizes this fundamental truth.” Other anti-abortion activists said IVF was not as clearly a moral issue in their eyes, compared to terminating a pregnancy.

Eric Johnston, a lawyer who helped draft Alabama’s abortion constitutional text in 2018, told the BBC: “Broadly speaking, the pro-life community would say that fertilized eggs need protection.” However, he admitted that there were couples with anti-abortion views who had undergone IVF to have children and that he would never condemn them. “It’s a dilemma and dilemma is something to which you do not have a satisfactory answer“, he added.

What could happen in other states?

US states often tend to replicate each other’s legislation, and the US has seen this pattern repeated with abortion. Often they take a line from each other about which laws or policies have successfully passed legislatures or been subject to legal challenges.

Although Alabama’s decision only applies within the state, experts believe that other states could see similar legislative attempts or lawsuits aimed at promoting the idea that frozen embryos should be considered legitimate children or human beings.

But they made it clear that this particular case seemed unlikely to reach the U.S. Supreme Court, like the abortion issue, because the Alabama decision came from a state court and involved an interpretation of state, not federal, law. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 97,128 babies were born in the US as a result of IVF treatments in 2021.

What are the political implications of the decision in the US?

Abortion rights have been a victory issue for Democrats since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade, which guaranteed the constitutional right to abortion up to the point of fetal viability, about 23 to 25 weeks.

Following the Alabama decision, Democratic candidates could run on a platform of protecting access to fertility treatment across the United States. Republican politicians, meanwhile, often they side with religious conservatives who want to ban or restrict abortion in the US.

Republican presidential nominee Nikki Haley, the only major contender remaining in the race against Donald Trump for the party’s nomination, upheld the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling on Thursday.“Fetuses are babies for me”he said characteristically.