Major Alabama hospital pauses IVF after court rules frozen embryos are children

A ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court that frozen embryos are considered children, and that a person could be held liable for accidentally destroying them, has opened up a new front in the US battle over reproductive medicine.

"But we must evaluate the potential that our patients and our physicians could be prosecuted criminally or face punitive damages for following the standard of care for IVF treatments." The couples sought to sue the Center for Reproductive Medicine and the Mobile Infirmary Association under the state's Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. That law covers foetuses, but did not specifically cover embryos resulting from IVF.

But the decision may cause confusion about whether some aspects of IVF are legal under Alabama law, experts say. If an embryo is considered a person, it could raise questions about how clinics are allowed to use and store them. The Medical Association of the State of Alabama said in a statement: "The significance of this decision impacts all Alabamians and will likely lead to fewer babies - children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and cousins - as fertility options become limited for those who want to have a family."When the US Supreme Court struck down a nationwide right to abortion in 2022, it opened the door for states to make their own laws on the issue.

"No matter the circumstances, all human life is valuable from the moment of conception," spokeswoman Denise Burke said in a statement to the BBC. "We are grateful the Court correctly found that Alabama law recognises this fundamental truth." US states often tend to replicate each other's legislation, and the US has seen this pattern play out with abortion. Often, states will take cues from each other about what laws or policies have successfully passed legislatures or withstood legal challenges.

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