Frozen embryos are ‘children,’ Alabama Supreme Court rules in couples’ wrongful death suits

[mommy_jules]

https://www.al.com/news/mobile/2024/02/ ... suits.html

The Center for Reproductive Medicine, a fertility clinic used by the couples, and Mobile Infirmary Medical Center, where the embryos were being stored, claimed the couples could not sue for wrongful death because Alabama’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act does not cover embryos outside the womb.

But the Alabama Supreme Court disagreed when it reversed Mobile County Circuit Court Judge Jill Parrish Phillips’ ruling to dismiss the case in 2022.

The Wrongful Death of a Minor Act “applies to all unborn children, regardless of their location,” wrote Alabama Supreme Court Justice Jay Mitchell. “[T]he Wrongful Death of a Minor Act is sweeping and unqualified. It applies to all children, born and unborn, without limitation. It is not the role of this Court to craft a new limitation based on our own view of what is or is not wise public policy. That is especially true where, as here, the People of this State have adopted a Constitutional amendment directly aimed at stopping courts from excluding ‘unborn life’ from legal protection.”

[WellPreserved]

[Della]

This is the machinations of the Trump Train. It's going to get worse, I fear.

[Olioxenfree]

Wrongful death should only apply to a viable fetus. There of course should be legal consequences for destruction of an embryo and fetus against the will of the owner, but wrongful death is not the correct term for it. It has fewer cells and capabilities than a raspberry, it’s not a child.

[Murdoc's Mistress]

Yeah, this ruling is totally not gonna be weaponized by the fetus worshipers. Not at all....

[SouthernIslander]

[jessilin0113]

Can they be claimed as dependents on taxes? Because I still have viable eggs and would love some additional tax breaks...

[WellPreserved]

Thinking what this would mean in terms of pregnant women is mind boggling - everything from fertility treatment to custody to period tracking, ugh. I'm sure there are some pretty horrendous things that aren't even popping into my head right now. I'm assuming that even pro-life women don't want this for other women?

If embryos are considered children, what ramifications will that mean in abortion to protect the life of a woman? Currently our laws aren't written in a way to protect an adult's life over the life of a child.

[Momto2boys973]

I get your point and I don’t go by the life begins at conception belief myself. But in all fairness an egg and an embryo are 2 different things, especially for those who do believe in that concept. They’re considering an embryo - a result of fertilization- a “human”, not eggs or sperm by themselves.

Can they be claimed as dependents on taxes? Because I still have viable eggs and would love some additional tax breaks...

[jessilin0113]

I get your point and I don’t go by the life begins at conception belief myself. But in all fairness an egg and an embryo are 2 different things, especially for those who do believe in that concept. They’re considering an embryo - a result of fertilization- a “human”, not eggs or sperm by themselves.

Can they be claimed as dependents on taxes? Because I still have viable eggs and would love some additional tax breaks...

I know the difference. Using the eggs to make an embryo was supposed to be implied.