The Alabama Supreme Court ruled Friday that frozen embryos are people and someone can be held liable for destroying them, a decision that reproductive rights advocates say could imperil in vitro fertilization (IVF) and affect the hundreds of thousands of patients who depend on treatments like it each year.
The first-of-its-kind ruling comes as at least 11 states have broadly defined personhood as beginning at fertilization in their state laws, according to reproductive rights group Pregnancy Justice, and states nationwide mull additional abortion and reproductive restrictions, elevating the issue ahead of the 2024 elections. Federally, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide this term whether to limit access to an abortion drug, the first time the high court will rule on the subject since it overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
And the common-sense consequence? Prison. But, of course, the life of the fetus must be preserved, even if it’s taken the life of the mother, and this is presumably a preemie baby, possibly extraordinaire’, and so each prison that wishes to offer facilities to house such criminals will have to equip themselves for preemie babies, and all that goes along with that.
Goodness. I wonder if the guards will need special training.
