Fr. Shenan J. Boquet: Alabama’s Court Decision Sparks Debate Over Ethics of IVF

“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” — George Orwell

A few days ago, the Alabama Supreme Court surprised the country by doing something that is all too rare in today’s culture, i.e. it spoke the truth.

In a blockbuster 8-1 decision, the Court ruled that human embryos preserved cryogenically in in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics are “extrauterine children,” and are therefore protected under the state’s “wrongful death” law.

The case that elicited this decision, with such sweeping implications for the rapidly growing IVF industry, was brought forward to the courts by three couples who had human embryos preserved in an Alabama IVF clinic.

In 2020, a client at the clinic entered the cryogenic storage center and removed some of the embryos. The client then accidentally dropped the embryos, with the result that the embryonic children died.

The couples who had preserved the embryos subsequently sued the IVF clinic for “wrongful death.” However, the clinic argued that Alabama’s “Wrongful Death of a Minor Act” does not apply to preserved embryos. …

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