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Alabama Supreme Court rules frozen embryos are unborn children

This ruling reversed that from a lower court, noting that the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act "applies to all children, born and unborn, without limitation."

Un padre toma la mano de su recién nacido.

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Verónica Silveri Pazos

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The Alabama Supreme Court ruled that, under state law, frozen embryos are considered unborn children, and anyone who destroys them will be considered liable for their death:

This Court has long held that unborn children are "children" for purposes of Alabama's Wrongful Death of a Minor Act, Ala. Code 1975, a statute that allows parents of a deceased child to recover punitive damages for their child's death.

The state Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling that did not recognize frozen embryos as unborn children, basing its decision on the amendment to the Sanctity of Unborn Life section of the state Constitution, (present since 2018) that declares as "public policy" to recognize "the sanctity of unborn life and the rights of unborn children":

The central question presented in these consolidated appeals, which involve the death of embryos kept in a cryogenic nursery, is whether the Act contains an unwritten exception to that rule for extrauterine children -- that is, unborn children who are located outside of a biological uterus at the time they are killed. Under existing black-letter law, the answer to that question is no: the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act applies to all unborn children, regardless of their location.

Decision by Veronica Silveri on Scribd

The judges noted that the text of the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act "applies to all children, born and unborn, without limitation":

It is not the role of this Court to craft a new limitation based on our own view of what is or is not wise public policy. That is especially true where, as here, the People of this State have adopted a Constitutional amendment directly aimed at stopping courts from excluding "unborn life" from legal protection.
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