Alabama Supreme Court ruled embryos are children. Now what?

(NewsNation) — In vitro fertility clinics in Alabama are halting services following a state Supreme Court ruling that embryos are children, a decision that could have far-reaching implications.

The ruling stems from the grievances of multiple Alabama-based IVF patients whose embryos were taken out of freezing, dropped on the floor and destroyed.

In a concurring opinion, Chief Justice Tom Parker supported the ruling, citing the “theologically based view of the sanctity of life adopted by the People of Alabama.”

IVF professionals and reproductive rights advocates, however, fear the basis of the ruling will further limit peoples’ ability to conceive and potentially harm people who miscarry during pregnancy.

What did the decision say?

The death of “unborn children” is specifically included in Alabama’s Death of a Minor statute, and the ruling clarified embryos don’t need to be in utero to be covered by it.

“Unborn children are ‘children’ under the Act, without exception based on developmental stage, physical location, or any other ancillary characteristics,” Justice Jay Mitchell wrote in the majority ruling.

Parker’s concurring opinion emphasized similar reasoning, relying heavily on the belief that “all human beings bear God’s image.”

“Life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God, who views the destruction of His image as an affront to Himself,” Parker wrote.

The same is true for all human life “even before birth,” he added.

How does the ruling impact current IVF patients?

In response to Friday’s ruling, at least two IVF providers – Alabama Fertility Services and the University of Alabama at Birmingham health system – have halted parts of their programs.

“We are saddened that this will impact our patients’ attempt to have a baby through IVF, 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 university said in an emailed statement.

The health system emphasized that egg fertilization and embryo development are paused, but steps through egg retrieval are still in place.

Alabama Fertility Services issued a similar statement, vowing not to close.

“We are contacting patients that will be affected today to find solutions for them and we are working as hard as we can to alert our legislators as to the far reaching negative impact of this ruling on the women of Alabama,” the statement read.

Twenty-six-year-old Gabby Goidel was pursuing IVF treatment in Alabama after three miscarriages, the Associated Press reported. The ruling was issued the day she began the daily injections that come before egg retrieval.

“It just kind of took me by storm. It was like all I could think about and it was just a very stressful thing to hear. I immediately messaged my clinic and asked if this could potentially halt us. They said we have to take it one day at a time,” she told the AP.

Her clinic was continuing to provide treatment for now as of Thursday. Without IVF, Goidel fears she might experience “several more miscarriages.”

Emily S. Jungheim, professor and chief of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Northwestern University School of Medicine in Chicago, suggested patients see if they can move their embryos out of state or to fully operating clinics in Alabama.

“I’d say, unfortunately, UAB are the folks that it probably impacts the most because it’s a major medical center where you’ve got people who may be facing cancer treatments that are going to render them sterile,” Jungheim said.

How far could Alabama’s ruling reach?

IVF produced 91,906 births in Alabama in 2021, according to a Washington Post report citing data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Alabama Supreme Court’s decision immediately impacts the in-state IVF service providers who had a hand in those pregnancies. The logic behind the ruling, however, could be further reaching, potentially paving the way for other states to follow suit, Jungheim said.

“I also foresee it as being something that may have consequences for women and for physicians in situations where women are experiencing miscarriages or ectopic pregnancies, or other unfortunate things that happen beyond our control in early pregnancy,” she said.

Alabama already has some of the nation’s most restrictive laws surrounding abortion, including a total ban with few exceptions.  

“The folks who made this decision, I’m sure they think they made a very good decision, and it’s based on some personal belief,” Jungheim said. “But it’s not based in biology, or physiology, or embryology or genetics.”

The ruling isn’t likely to impact stem cell research since professionals in the field are already “very limited” in how they can use stem cells derived from human embryos, she added.