On February 16, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that fertilized eggs found in test tubes should be considered children
A Republican Alabama senator has filed a bill aimed at protecting assisted reproduction after the conservative US state’s Supreme Court ruled that the frozen embryos are considered children and prompted some clinics to suspend IVF services.
Tim Melson, who is a doctor by profession, said he hopes the bill that would protect assisted reproduction clinics from both criminal and civil prosecutions could be approved by the Alabama Senate and House by Thursday.
The process until it becomes state law will take two to three weeks, he estimated.
On February 16, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that fertilized eggs found in test tubes should be considered children, causing disruption to doctors and patients at assisted reproduction clinics and raising legal issues.
That decision did not specify what the legal procedure is for storing, transporting and using frozen eggs, and some patients who were to undergo IVF treatment tried to transport their frozen eggs outside of Alabama.
“We need to ensure that clinics do not risk being charged with manslaughter or murder (…) when they discard an unused embryo,” Melson added.
“Sanctity of human life”
Relying on an 1872 law on wrongful death of minors, three couples sued an assisted reproduction clinic in Alabama after a 2020 patient entered the frozen embryo storage area and accidentally destroyed their embryos.
Alabama Supreme Court ruling means parents in state can sue for wrongful death of their childrenincluding fetuses, based on the state’s Sanctity of Human Life Amendment, which was approved by voters in 2018 and protects “the sanctity of unborn life and the rights of unborn children.”
This is the latest in a series of decisions affecting women’s reproductive rights in the US, following the summer 2022 reversal of the country’s Supreme Court ruling that had recognized women’s constitutional right to abortion since 1973.
Republican candidates are avoiding raising the issue of abortion ahead of the presidential election, as the party’s worse-than-expected performance in the 2022 midterm elections was seen as a voter reaction to the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Source :Skai
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