MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Groups representing Alabama doctors and hospitals urged the state Supreme Court on Friday to review a decision that equated frozen embryos with children. They say the ruling will block fertility treatments and harm the medical community.
The Medical Association of the State of Alabama and the Alabama Hospital Association have filed a petition in support of a request for rehearing in the case that has attracted international attention.
Courts do not often grant such requests, but the organizations argued that the ruling has far-reaching consequences as fertility clinics pause IVF services. They also said it creates a cloud of uncertainty for the medical community.
“Many prospective parents will not be able to have children as a result of this court’s ruling. This is a tragedy across Alabama,” attorneys for the organizations wrote.
Last month, judges in Alabama ruled that three couples could file wrongful death lawsuits for their “ectopic children” after their frozen embryos were destroyed in an accident at a storage facility. The decision, which treated the embryos the same as a child or pregnant fetus under the state’s wrongful death law, raised concerns about clinics’ civil liability.
The defendants in the lawsuits – the Center for Reproductive Medicine and the Mobile Infirmary – filed a motion for rehearing with the court on Friday.
Attorneys for the providers argued that the ruling is inconsistent with other state laws. The state’s fetal homicide law and abortion ban were written to cover fetuses and embryos “in utero,” that is, inside the womb.
They also noted that Alabama lawmakers are trying to find a way to resume IVF services by proposing legal protections for clinics, writing: “The knee-jerk reaction of our Legislature to try to address the issues raised by the opinion of the Court have been created seems to indicate the intention of the legislature. is not what this Court assumed.”
The plaintiffs in the case had undergone IVF treatments that led to the creation of several embryos, some of which were implanted and resulted in healthy births. The couples paid to keep others frozen at Mobile Infirmary Medical Center.
According to the lawsuit, in 2020 a patient walked into the storage room through an unlocked door, removed several embryos from a room and dropped them on the floor, destroying them.