The Alabama Supreme Court on Friday declined to reconsider a controversial ruling that said frozen embryos are considered children under a state law. Justices in a 7-2 decision without comment rejected a request to revisit the ruling that drew international attention and prompted fertility clinics to cease services earlier this year. Alabama justices in February ruled that three couples could pursue wrongful death lawsuits for their "extrauterine children" after their frozen embryos were destroyed in an accident at a storage facility.
APR covered the political messaging tangle this created for pro-life Republicans This started with Alabama GOP Chairman John Wahl…
“Well, you know, I think what has happened here is the Democrat Party and the mainstream media have forgotten that this was a court ruling,” said John Wahl, chairman of the Alabama Republican Party.
“I applaud the Alabama Supreme Court for recognizing that parents were victimized, embryos were destroyed, needlessly and recklessly. And they deserve a redress of grievances,” he said, “So, I think that Alabama Supreme Court made the right decision.”
Others don’t seem prepared to let the GOP off so easily…
“They've basically painted themselves into a corner by deciding that they were going to play with the anti-abortion wing of the United States,” said Robin Marty. She’s Executive Director of the West Alabama Women’s Center. The Tuscaloosa facility conducted fifty percent of the abortion in the State, before the end of Roe Versus Wade.
“We are in a place where it is even more extreme than just abortion, it is where you can no longer do anything with a fertilized egg,” said Marty. “This should be a alarming call to arms for any person who believes in bodily autonomy, because we said IVF was in jeopardy.”
“Yeah, the GOP has a real challenge right now,” said Cynthia Peacock. She teaches political communication at the University of Alabama. Her specialty is messaging, and she’s watching both sides.
“So we're seeing a lot of Republicans trying to do two things at once they're trying to distance themselves from a wildly unpopular decision made by the Alabama Supreme Court while also reaffirming their prolife bonifides,” she said.
Last week’s decision prompted a wave of public backlash as women saw fertility treatments canceled or put in jeopardy after the ruling.
Three clinics stopped IVF services because of the civil liability concerns raised by the ruling, which treated a frozen embryo the same as a child or gestating fetus under Alabama's wrongful death law. The clinics resumed services after state lawmakers approved legislation shielding providers from civil lawsuits.
Justice Will Sellers, in a dissenting opinion, said he would have granted the rehearing request so that they could gather more information.
"The majority opinion on original submission had significant and sweeping implications for individuals who were entirely unassociated with the parties in the case. Many of those individuals had no reason to believe that a legal and routine medical procedure would be delayed, much less denied, as a result of this Court's opinion," Sellers wrote.
The Center for Reproductive Medicine and the Mobile Infirmary, the defendants in the lawsuit, had asked justices to rehear the issue.
The Medical Association of the State of Alabama and the Alabama Hospital Association filed a brief supporting the request. They said even though IVF services have resumed, the decision continues to create a cloud of uncertainty for the medical community.
