{"id":21071,"date":"2024-03-04T12:01:25","date_gmt":"2024-03-04T17:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=21071"},"modified":"2024-03-04T12:03:46","modified_gmt":"2024-03-04T17:03:46","slug":"critics-claim-alabama-ruling-protecting-embryos-will-destroy-ivf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2024\/03\/critics-claim-alabama-ruling-protecting-embryos-will-destroy-ivf","title":{"rendered":"Critics Claim Alabama Ruling Protecting Embryos Will Destroy IVF"},"content":{"rendered":"
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JNix \/ Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling<\/a> that embryos are considered children is splitting Americans, including conservatives and pro-life advocates, on when life begins and the uses of IVF, surrogacy, and other fertility treatments. The ruling came down mid-February regarding a wrongful death case from three couples against a family planning clinic. The couples had embryos destroyed during an accident in the clinic, and the court ruled to allow the wrongful death suit based on an 1872 Alabama state law that permitted parents to sue over the wrongful death of a minor child. That includes unborn children, according to Justice Jay Mitchell in the majority opinion. \u201cUnborn children are \u2018children\u2019 … without exception based on developmental stage, physical location, or any other ancillary characteristics,\u201d he wrote. Chief Justice Tom Parker concurred<\/a>, citing the Bible and a previous amendment to the state\u2019s constitution in 2018 that protected \u201cthe sanctity of unborn life.\u201d Quoting Genesis, Parker said the principle had \u201cdeep roots that reach back to the creation of man \u2018in the image of God.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Pro-abortion advocates saw the ruling as another strike against reproductive rights since the overturning of Roe v Wade. Rachel Laser, CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, cited it as an example of \u201cChristian nationalism\u201d and an attempt to weaken the separation between church and state. \u201cNow we\u2019re in a place where government officials feel emboldened to say the quiet part out loud and directly challenge the separation of church and state, a foundational part of our democracy,\u201d she said<\/a>. Others warned that the ruling left other family planning clinics vulnerable to lawsuits, as many create multiple embryos in order for the best chances of success in IVF. Not just liberals, however, cited their concerns about the ruling. Former president Donald Trump wrote<\/a> on his Truth Social account that he \u201cstrongly support[s] the availability of IVF for couples who are trying to have a precious baby\u201d and that \u201cthe Republican Party will always support the creation of strong, thriving, healthy American families.\u201d Texas Governor Greg Abbott stated, \u201cThe IVF process is a way of giving life to even more babies\u201d and that he supports giving access to couples to create more families.<\/p>\n

However, The Daily Mail<\/a><\/em> reported that 1.7 million embryos created through IVF had been thrown away and that only 7 percent of those created led to pregnancy. The rest, according to the pro-life group \u201cThem Before Us<\/a>,\u201d \u201cwill perish in forgotten freezers, won\u2019t survive \u2018thawing,\u2019 fail to implant, be discarded for being non-viable\/the wrong sex, be \u2018selectively reduced,\u2019 or be donated to research.\u201d The group also spoke out about concerns about eugenic practices in pre-selecting embryos with the best genetic information despite the fact \u201cthat embryos with abnormal cells have the ability to self-correct, or push the abnormal cells out and replace them with normal cells.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allie Beth Stuckey<\/a>, who has often spoken out against IVF and surrogacy, stated that as someone who believes life begins at conception, she believed the Alabama Supreme Court made the right decision. \u201cWhen it comes to IVF, when it comes to surrogacy, when it comes to reproductive technology, I\u2019ve found that many evangelicals\u2026[have] a lot of thoughtlessness when it comes to these subjects.\u201d She stated that many evangelicals believe being pro-life means supporting all methods of creating life and families without considering the ethics of how that life is created. \u201cThat tiny human is entitled to human rights,\u201d said Stuckey. She cited that oftentimes, there are too many embryos created, leaving families with the decision of what to do with those they don\u2019t intend to implant. \u201cIf we believe as Christian pro-lifers that these humans are made in the image of God and therefore, they have dignity, they have innate worth, and therefore they are entitled to human rights, then we shouldn\u2019t be treating these little human beings like this.\u201d While advocating for compassion for those with fertility struggles, she stated the life of the child, even as an embryo, must be considered. \u201cThey have rights like human children,\u201d she concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling that embryos are considered children is splitting Americans, including conservatives and pro-life advocates, on when life begins and the uses of IVF, surrogacy, and other fertility treatments. The ruling came down mid-February regarding a wrongful death case from three couples against a family planning clinic. The couples had embryos…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":462,"featured_media":21080,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nCritics Claim Alabama Ruling Protecting Embryos Will Destroy IVF<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An Alabama Supreme Court ruling that embryos are considered children is splitting Americans on when life begins and the uses of IVF, surrogacy, and other fertility treatments.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Critics Claim Alabama Ruling Protecting Embryos Will Destroy IVF\" \/>\n<meta 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