Human Dignity, Disability & Bioethics

Fight for Alabama Families presented U.S. Senator Katie Britt with its Pro-Family Champion Award in Washington, D.C., recognizing her efforts to protect access to IVF in Alabama and nationwide following the Alabama Supreme Court's 2024 embryo ruling.

The Alabama Supreme Court's 2024 IVF decision extended personhood to human embryos for the purpose of a 'Wrongful Death of a Minor' lawsuit, bringing IVF, surrogacy, and infertility issues to the forefront of national discussion. As political parties positioned themselves as 'pro-parent, pro-IVF,' many evangelicals began to reconsider their views on these topics, questioning the assumption that IVF is inherently pro-life because it creates life.

Former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Jay Mitchell authored a court opinion upholding the rights of embryos conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF), affirming their legal protection under Alabama law. This ruling, based on the Alabama Constitution and state statutes, sparked legislative action in Alabama with the passage of SB159 to protect clinics from liability for embryo destruction, highlighting ongoing legal and ethical debates about IVF in the state.

Republican lawmakers in several states have introduced abortion-homicide bills that would legally treat abortion as homicide, raising concerns among reproductive rights advocates about potential legal personhood for embryos. While Alabama is not specifically mentioned as having introduced such legislation, the ongoing national debate and legal trends in states like Tennessee and Kentucky highlight the broader regional context that could influence Alabama's abortion policies.

The Alabama Supreme Court ruled on February 16, 2024, that embryos created through in vitro fertilization (IVF) are legally recognized as children, a decision that has sparked significant debate about the ethics of IVF practices. This ruling directly impacts Alabama by affirming embryo personhood within the state, potentially influencing IVF procedures and abortion laws locally.

Alabama experienced a halt in IVF cycles following the state Supreme Court's 2024 LePage decision related to fetal personhood laws, prompting legislators to pass a law protecting fertility providers and allowing clinics to reopen. This situation in Alabama highlights the risks of defining life at conception and the importance of distinguishing abortion from IVF in legal and public discussions within the state.

The appropriate, pro-life response to the Alabama ruling is not to gut Louisiana’s IVF laws. Rather, it is to recognize that ultimately, it is up to the industry to avoid another “Alabama situation” by maintaining standards that would have prevented the events that led to the Court case in the first place, and to reinforce those standards through legislative action that establishes, maintains, and reinforces accountability. Sen. Pressly’s bill does the opposite.