The lawsuit that led to the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that embryos are children, and thus protected under Alabama law, temporarily halting in vitro fertilization at clinics around the state, has been dismissed at the request of the plaintiffs, according to court records.
The lawsuit, filed by one of three couples who had their embryos accidentally destroyed by a wandering patient at a Mobile fertility clinic, sparked debate across the country over the language used in some states’ extreme abortion bans and corresponding state laws that defined embryos as children.
The Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling on the matter, which interpreted state law as providing such protections “to all unborn children” and determining that courts could hold fertility clinics responsible for the destruction of embryos, led to a number of clinics ceasing IVF services. Most restarted those services following legislation passed by the Alabama Legislature that granted the clinics immunity – a remedy that legal experts are still unsure of.
At the federal level, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle appear to agree that protections should be in place for IVF clinics. However, several attempts to craft legislation that might offer such protections have failed, as Republicans and Democrats disagree over the best course of action and how far the protections should go.
The issue has driven a wedge between many who consider themselves “pro-life.” While they oppose abortion and consider life beginning at a stage well short of birth, many couples who have struggled to conceive have also turned to IVF for assistance, knowing full well that embryos would be destroyed in the process. That, of course, raises issues with the notion, cited by many pro-lifers, that life begins at conception – the fundamental starting point for many anti-abortion laws.
