In February, Alabama’s Supreme Court ruled that embryos are human, triggering a political earthquake that erupted across the country. The Democratic Party seized the moment, defining the decision’s interpretation, and immediately labeling it as anti-in-vitro fertilization. With top Democrats arguing that Republicans’ anti-abortion positions are incompatible with a pro-IVF posture, Republicans have been put in an uncomfortable position during an election year.
Alabama’s Supreme Court ruling came after three Alabama couples sued the Mobile Infirmary Medical Center and the Center for Reproductive Medicine when their embryos were accidentally destroyed during the IVF process. The court’s decision in their favor entailed consequences for IVF facilities, making them liable for destroyed or discarded embryos now recognized as legal persons. The decision did not legally prohibit IVF, but it made providing and obtaining IVF more difficult.
