Alabama Supreme Court Cites the Bible in Terrifying Embryo Ruling
The Alabama Supreme Court’s decision is all but guaranteed to gut IVF in the entire state.
newrepublic.com
In other words, this is definitely heading for a result the plaintiffs didn't want.The case, known as LePage v. Mobile Infirmary Clinic, Inc, rested upon an argument by several intended parents that their “embryonic children” had been victims of a wrongful death when an intruder broke into the IVF clinic, dropping trays containing some of the embryos and ultimately destroying them.
In a 7–2 decision, Alabama’s highest court ruled that the clinic had been negligent, allowing the parents to proceed with a wrongful death lawsuit. The court also ruled that it is “the public policy of this state to recognize and support the sanctity of unborn life and the rights of unborn children, including the right to life,” referring to the Alabama Constitution’s Sanctity of Life Amendment, ratified in 2018.
Because of course they did.But the opinion also quotes the Bible as reasoning for functionally killing IVF access within the aggressively pro-life state, turning to an eyebrow-raising verse from Jeremiah 1:5 for guidance before deciding to make it harder for Alabamans to have a family.
You know, before Roe v. Wade was overturned, the people who opposed abortion by saying "embryos are people" would tend to deny that IVF was just as "wrong" by the same standard, and I don't think most of them want it to be illegal...but courts value consistency a lot more than legislators or preachers do.