human tissue

Alabama lawmakers advanced a bill making it a crime for medical examiners to retain a deceased person’s organs without family permission. The bill would make it a felony for a medical examiner to retain a deceased person’s organs without getting that permission from “the appropriate next of kin.”

Alabama has a new law protecting in vitro fertilization providers from legal liability. Gov. Kay Ivey signed legislation Wednesday that shields IVF providers from possible lawsuits and criminal prosecutions stemming from a court ruling that equated frozen embryos to children.

A recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos are legally protected children is highlighting how support for the idea that a fetus should have the same rights as a person underpins far less dramatic laws and proposals from abortion foes across the U.S.

Body-stealing cases like that of Michael Mastromarino illustrate how an industry built on altruism can fall into the hands of the greedy.