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This court decision could have “devastating consequences” for in vitro fertilization procedures in the southern US state, according to America’s leading infertility association.
The Alabama Supreme Court considers embryos preserved by freezing to be “children”, a decision strongly criticized on Tuesday February 20 by the American medical community and the White House. This court decision, rendered Friday, could have “devastating consequences” for in vitro fertilization procedures in the southern US state, according to Resolve, America’s leading infertility association.
“Across the country, women are suffering the devastating consequences of the actions of Republican elected officials”, denounced Tuesday the spokesperson for the White House, Karine Jean-Pierre. Friday’s decision reflects “exactly the kind of chaos we expected when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade»the 1973 ruling establishing the right to abortion, declared White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre.
All Republican judges
In June 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States ended the constitutional guarantee of the right to abortion, leading many states, including Alabama, to restrict or ban them. The defense of the right to abortion has since become a hobbyhorse of the Democrats, ahead of the presidential election in November.
At the origin of Friday’s decision, a complaint from three couples against a clinic practicing in vitro fertilization. Citing in support an 1872 law on the deaths of minors attributable to fault, they filed a complaint after another patient, upon entering a storage area, accidentally destroyed their embryos. A court initially dismissed the complaint, finding that the embryos could not be qualified as “person” or“child”.
We believe that every human being, from the moment of conception, is made in the image of God. HAS”
The Supreme Court of Alabama
But on Friday, with a majority of 7 judges against 2, all Republicans, the Supreme Court of Alabama on the contrary considered that the law on infant deaths “applies to all unborn children, without limit”. “This applies to all children, born or unborn.”writes Judge Jay Mitchell in the text of the decision, peppered with biblical references. “The people of Alabama have declared that it is the policy of this state that unborn human life is sacred.”he writes in reference to the ban on abortion within the state. “We believe that every human being, from the moment of conception, is made in the image of God.”he further notes in his court decision.
“This new legal framework could make practices like in vitro fertilization impossible”, denounced the NGO Resolve. Had the Alabama State Medical Association warned that such a decision “could lead to the closure of fertility clinics and the movement of specialists to other states to practice” their activity without fear of legal problems.